BAGUIO City Mayor Mauricio Domogan advised businessmen and consumers to heed the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) advisory against selling or drinking the native alcoholic beverage “lambanog” that are not FDA-registered.
Domogan's move was in compliance with the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) advisory dated December 12, 2018 urging all local chief executives in the country to ensure that lambanog that are not approved by the FDA will not be sold or made available in the localities.
The DILG action was pursuant to the FDA Advisory 2018-325, advising the public “to exercise extreme caution in purchasing and consuming the alcoholic beverage lambanog specifically those not registered with the FDA following series of deaths that occurred purportedly as a result of the consumption thereof.”
The FDA, in its advisory, said a product verification and laboratory analysis it conducted with the Department of Health Epidemiology Bureau confirmed that the lambanog ingested by the fatalities contained high levels of the substance methanol and were not registered with the FDA.
“Products that are not registered with the FDA pose potential health hazards to the consuming public since they have not gone through the agency’s evaluation and testing. Thus, the FDA cannot guarantee their quality and safety,” the FDA noted.
“Ingestion of products with high amounts of methanol poses serious adverse effects like blindness and permanent neurologic dysfunction among others and may even lead to death,” it added.
The FDA advised the public to only purchase or consume lambanog products that are registered with the FDA.
“Retail outlets and other dealers of alcoholic beverages are warned against the sale of unregistered products under the pain of being prosecuted for violation of the FDA Act of 2009, the Food Safety Act of 2013 and other relevant laws, rules and regulations,” the FDA said.
“All local government units and law enforcement agencies are requested to ensure that these products are not sold or made available in their localities or areas of jurisdictions,” it added. (PR)