APPARENTLY due to the milk scare, some milk companies in the country have reduced their prices by 10 to 20 percent.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo announced the milk price rollback during her visit to a supermarket in Pasay City and Manila Thursday to personally check if there are milk and dairy products from China that are still being sold publicly.
Arroyo, accompanied by Trade Undersecretary Zenaida Maglaya, visited Liana's Supermarket in Pasay City and Savemore Supermarket in Nagtahan, Manila after attending the opening ceremony of the Agrlink-Foodlink-Aqualink at the World Trade Center.
"Alaska has brought down its prices. I noticed the housewives were buying Alaska," Arroyo said.
She said the prices of some Nestle milk products and chocolate drinks like Milo and Ovaltine also went down.
During her visit, President Arroyo assured both store employees and customers that the infant milk that are imported and sold in the country are safe and that none of them are tainted with melamine.
She said most parents are brand and price conscious when it comes to their children's milk.
"The public should not worry about milk. Everything that we have seen in two supermarkets are safe," said Arroyo.
The Bureau of Food and Drugs (BFAD) tested China-made Yili, Mengui, and Jolly Cow Slender milks positive for melamine.
It is set to release Friday another results of the laboratory tests on still more than 100 milk products.
The bureau is also slated to validate the test results from private testing centers that are authorized by the government to conduct tests on food and drug qualities and safeties.
Meanwhile, BFAD director Leticia Gutierrez said it has spent nearly half a million or over the allocated budget for the melamine test.
"I have asked our budget officer to find out how much we are spending already because this is not in our budget you know," she said.
For this year, BFAD was given a total of P193,988 million budget with the bulk being used for the salaries of its personnel amounting to P85.533 million; maintenance and operating expenses amounting to P98.455 million; and capital outlay getting P10 million.
Aside from the operational expenses, Gutierrez said overtime pays for the undermanned body is also another concern for the Department of Health and BFAD.
Gutierrez said the BFAD analysts, being undermanned, are continuously working swiftly for them to be able to immediately come out with the results up to the point of sacrificing their weekends and holidays.
"They (public) should appreciate the efforts of BFAD. These are the real unsung heroes here," she said. (JMR/MSN/Sunnex)
