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Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Some China milk products found in stores
DAVAO CITY -- A few stores are still selling milk products from China despite the 24-hour deadline set by Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte for storeowners to pull the milk products out.
Health Secretary Francisco Duque III also said Monday the government might compel milk products manufacturers and importers to disclose the source of their ingredients.
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But those few stores found with the China milk products have since pulled out from their shelves the questioned items after City Government personnel did the rounds and ordered them to do so.
City Health Officer Josephine Villafuerte said they have already checked the big stores and mini-marts on Monday, although there are still several small stores they have to check soon after Duterte's order.
Villafuerte said they did not collect the products as the Bureau of Food and Drugs (BFAD) is still set to gather samples for analysis.
"If the results turn out negative, they can put it back. If positive, BFAD will confiscate it," Villafuerte added.
Debbie Legaspi, Food and Drug Regulation Officer of BFAD, said of the 17 establishments they have visited, most have already voluntarily pulled out the products off the shelf.
Duterte, on the other hand, said two departments has been assigned to track down traders who refuse to heed his warning and has not given him any report yet.
Duterte, in an interview, identified the two departments as the Business Bureau and the City Health Office.
Last Sunday, Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte gave a 24-hour ultimatum for grocery and storeowners to pull out all the China-made dairy products from their shelves pending the results that these products are indeed safe for human consumption.
In a related development, Bureau of Customs Southern Mindanao District Collector Ronnie Silvestre said there has been no incident yet of smuggling of dairy products or other banned food products from China.
Silvestre reiterated that any banned product that will be confiscated by the Bureau of Customs will immediately be destroyed to ensure that such products will no longer be sold.
Aside from the international port of Davao, Silvestre said they are also looking into the ports of Mati, Davao Oriental, Dadiangas in General Santos City, and the port of Parang in Shariff Kabunsuan.
Meanwhile, Health Secretary Duque said BFAD are strategizing to come up with additional requirements from milk importers and manufacturers to include where their ingredients come from.
"If they make this full disclosure, it will be easy for us to include them (in the list of tainted milk products)," he said.
Duque noted that while the DOH is focusing on studying milk and milk products that were manufactured in China, there is still a possibility that even milk products made in other countries used milk-based ingredients from China.
"It's still not clear up to this point whether some of those products that come from countries other than China may not necessarily mean they did not use milk-based ingredients coming from China," he said.
Duque said they may use the full-disclosure documents that will be provided by milk importers and manufacturers if there is misrepresentation in the future.
He added that a longer list of banned dairy products of China will be released by the DOH very soon.
"We will make sure that the list will be coming and this will be longer each day. We will see that we will have more inclusions," he said.
Duque further said shop owners who insist on selling these products might face license revocation.
"We have been coordinating our efforts with the DILG (Department of Interior and Local Government) for enforcement of our ban order. We have also informed these retailers, the supermarkets and various stores that their license can be revoked and their shops closed," he said.
On the other hand, BFAD Director Leticia Gutierrez said she has directed a committee to inspect the possibility of including "Mr. Brown" instant coffee and milk tea in the list of banned items as advised by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
"When we heard about this, I've alerted already the product recall committee to gather all information and issue, if necessary, a public advisory about this," she said.
Duque assured that the Philippine government is in constant coordination with the US FDA, the World Health Organization, and the Chinese health authorities regarding the health issue. (CPM/GLP/With reports from PNA/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Cebu. (September 30, 2008 issue)
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