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Saturday, October 04, 2008
Gov't confident of retaining ties with China
MANILA -- Malacañang said Philippine relations with China would remain strong despite government's decision to temporarily ban products from that country pending analysis and laboratory testing.
The Bureau of Food and Drugs (BFAD) has prohibited the sale of at least 54 China-made milk products in the local market.
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Press Secretary Jesus Dureza said China would understand the concerns of the Philippines and in its own way take the necessary steps to address and end the melamine controversy.
Dureza said the Philippines and China have close diplomatic and trade relations, and issues like the melamine scare would not affect the "warm relations" of the two countries.
"It has no bearing at all as to whether it will create problems with our relations because I'm sure China is also probably as concerned as we are in seeing to it that the products that it exports are also not harmful to consumers," he said.
Dureza enjoined Filipinos to be more patient since BFAD is doing what it can to hasten its laboratory analysis on milk products.
He admitted that BFAD is having difficulty handling the demand to test and certify which products are safe or contaminated, and asked the public to be more patient and understanding.
"Best efforts are being exerted right now, considering the emergency situation," he said, advising the public to listen to advisories coming from BFAD and the Department of Health (DOH).
During Friday's press conference, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III announced that two China-made milk products -- Greenfood Yili Fresh Milk and Mengniu Drink (both labeled in Chinese characters) -- were found positive for melamine.
"Using a high pressure liquid chromatography test, these two products were found positive for melamine after they were tested by BFAD," Duque said.
BFAD Laboratory Testing officer-in-charge Maria Lourdes Santiago said the products will be considered as permanently banned from the market until they can pass the good manufacturing practice (GMP) requirement of BFAD.
"It depends on them on how quick they can respond to the changes necessary to pass our requirements (and enable the DOH to lift the ban)," Santiago said.
Duque, however, pointed out that products bearing the same product names but have English translations cannot be automatically concluded as being positive for melamine although they "most likely (come) from a same source."
Meanwhile, 28 other China milk and dairy products that have already been tested by BFAD were found negative for melamine.
"These 28 other products are now being de-listed from the banned products, even those bearing the label of 'Made in China'," said the health secretary.
The products that were found negative for melamine contamination are: Anchor Lite Milk, Anlene High Calcium Low Fat Milk UHT (recombined), Bear Brand Instant, Chichok Milk Chocolate, Farmland Skim Milk, Jinwei Drink, Jolly Cow Pure Fresh Milk, Kiddie Soya Milk Egg Delight, Lactogen 1 DHA Infant Formula, M&M's Milk Chocolate Candies, M&M's Peanut Chocolate Candies, Milk Boy, Nestogen 2 DHA Follow-up Formula, and Nestogen 3 DHA Follow-up Formula.
Other products that can now be sold in the market are: Nido 3+ Prebio with DHA, Nido Full Cream Milk Powder, Nido Junior, No-Sugar Chocolate of Isomaltooligosaccharide (Cocoa Butter Substitute), Nutri-Express Milk Drink, PURA UHT Fresh Milk, Snickers Fresh Roasted in Caramel & Soft Nougat in Thick Milk Chocolate, Vitasoy Soya Bean Milk, Wahaha Orange, Wahaha Yellow, Want-Want Milk Drink (Red Can), Windmill Skim Milk Powder, Yinlu Milk Peanut, and Yogee Yoghurt Flavor Milk Drink.
The food agency might come out with the results of its tests on several other milk products next week. (JMR/FP/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro. (October 4, 2008 issue)
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