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Saturday, June 23, 2007
19 Wyeth milk products pulled out of city stores
By Jujemay G. Awit
CEBU CITY -- Nineteen Wyeth milk products have already been taken off the shelves of Cebu City supermarkets, according to a Bureau of Food and Drug (BFAD) 7 report.
The bureau has sent field officers to various drugstores, supermarkets and grocery stores to check for “contaminated" milk products.
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It had issued an advisory that directed consumers who purchased a Wyeth milk product bearing lot number 172 to return the product either to the pharmaceutical company or any of its licensed distributors.
Dr. Angelita Salarda, chief of the Department of Health 7 health and regulation division where the food and drug section is under, told Sun.Star Cebu that two teams of food and drug regulation officers were sent out to check establishments selling Wyeth products like Bonakid, Bonamil, Bonna, Progress Gold, Promil, Promil Gold and Promil Kid.
“Everything is already in place," said Grace Cordona, one of the officers sent out.
By this, she meant that there are no more Wyeth products affected by a recall order on the shelves of Cebu City-based supermarkets and drugstores.
The BFAD central office ordered last Tuesday to recall millions of cans or sachets of various milk products manufactured by Wyeth Philippines, limited to those manufactured between May 16 and July 26, 2006 and those marked with 172 as their lot number.
BFAD issued the order after hearing complaints from consumers that some milk products were contaminated and that the cans bore rust marks.
Cordona explained that most of the supermarkets and drugstores were already aware of the BFAD advisory and had already taken precautions.
For instance, the 19 milk products were taken off the shelf of Save More supermarket at the Elizabeth Mall on N. Bacalso Avenue and Leon Kilat Street.
Cordona said that before they visited the supermarket Friday, it had already removed the products from the shelf per order of the SM Supermarket when the news broke about the recall order.
BFAD 7 also advised stores to replace any returned product.
“We will continue to monitor various stores," Cordona also said, referring to smaller establishments.
Salarda explained that the food and drug regulation officers conduct routine checkups every year. But with the latest development, they still have a few more days left to finish their checkups.
However, Salarda said they have no jurisdiction over sari-sari stores.
Aside from a mother complaining about a discolored Bonamil she bought that resulted in her child having diarrhea, there have been no other complaints of “untoward incidents," said Salarda.
Monina Coyoca, a food and drug regulation officer, said she received a phone call Friday about a worried mother who bought one of the milk products covered by the recall order.
Coyoca said she advised the mother to have the child checked by a doctor and continue observing the child’s health. This also goes for all those who bought the affected product, she said.
The mother who bought the discolored Bonamil was given a note to have the product replaced, Salarda said. The mother, though, has yet to return to the establishment. (Sun.Star Cebu)For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Zamboanga. (June 23, 2007 issue)
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