| Jakarta, March 6 (ANTARA) - The Food and Drug Supervisory Agency (BPOM) denied on Friday that five diary products registered with the agency were tainted with melamine but confirmed that two unregistered imported food items were contaminated.
The Indonesian Consumers Institute Foundation (YLKI) said on Wednesday that it had found 10 food products which were tainted with melamine, a substance banned as an ingredient in any food product.
On the ten products, five had been registered with BPOM. However, the food and drug control agency said none of the five contained melamine based on its laboratory examinations.
"But based on BPOM laboratory tests, using liquid chromatography Mass spectrometric (LC MS/MS), the five products registered with BPOM did not contain melamine," BPOM Head Husniah Rubiana Thamrin said.
The five products --which according to BPOM tests were free from melamine-- were Kino Bear Crispy Chocolate (3x3.5 gram content), F& N milk, Dutchmill Yogurt Drink Natural, Pura Low fat HUT Milk Beverage and Crown Lonx biscuit.
Besides the five registered with BPOM, YLKI also have found five other products with melamine substance, namely Yake Assorted Candies 500 gram (long), Yake Assorted Candies 500 gram (oval), Tirol Choco Mix, Fan Fun Sweetheart Biscuit and Nestle Bear Brand Sterilized Low Fat Milk.
Rubiana Thamrin said of the five products, only two had been detected to have contained melamine, namely Yake Assorted Candies (long) 500 gram containing 5.86 melamine parts per million (mppm) and Yake Assorted Candies (oval) 500 gram containing 5.86 melamine parts per million.
"We have not yet found any samples of Tirol Choco Mix candies and Fan Fun Sweetheart Biscuit so they could not yet be tested," she said.
The other brand, Nestle Bear Brand Sterilized Low Fat Milk with 140 ml content, was not detected to contain melamine.
With the BPOM clarification, it seems that BPOM and YLKI have used different equipment in testing the products.
According to Husniah Rubiana, such a difference could happen because of the different sensitivity of the equipment used by the two.
She said that BPOM conducted a test with LC MS/MS equipment as recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). It had the ability to detect up to 0.05 melamine part per million.
There is another equipment that could also be used to detect melamine substance, namely High Pressure Liquid chromatography (HPLC). But this equipment detected not only melamine but also other substance which shares similar physical and chemical nature of melamine.
"The use of HPLC is not recommended for examining candies and cookies," Rubiana said.
Earlier in the day, Health Minister Siti Fadila Supari said the equipment used by BPOM to test foods and drugs met the required standard but with the finding of YLKI, the agency should re-examine the alleged melamine-tainted products.
She said she had asked BPOM to the check diary products suspected by YLKI to have tainted with melamine.
"I have told BPOM to recheck them. BPOM actually has taken food samples (from the market) periodically and the latest samples were taken less a month ago," the minister.
She said that there was no problem with BPOM if there was another party which found melamine-tainted food substance because it could carry out recheck.
"It is BPOM's obligation to take samples at random in the market and recheck them," the minister said.
In the meantime, diary product maker Nestle has also denied the YLKI claim that one of the company's products contains melamine saying that all of its products were safe for consumption.
Nestle's public relations director Syahlan Siregar said in a press statement made available to ANTARA on Thursday that Nestle products were made according to tightly supervised standards. Nestle is on a routine basis always examining the raw materials to be used in its products.
Therefore, Nestle rejected the results of the YLKI-sponsored research indicating that Nestle's Bear Brand Sterilized Low Fat Milk 140 ml was among 10 types of products suspected to contain melamine.
Denial also came from the Australian ambassador to Indonesia. Australian Ambassador to Indonesia Bill Farmer denied recent claims by YLKI that an Australian dairy brand produced in New Zealand contains melamine. "The claims are not backed up by facts," Farmer said here on Thursday.
Melamine has never been detected in milk produced in Australia or sourced for an Australian branded product above the maximum residue levels dictated by internationally accepted standards.
"The product YLKI named has been recently and repeatedly tested and is free of melamine," he said.
Rigorous testing of Australian dairy products from dairy farm to processing factories ensures Australia's dairy products are free from dangerous levels of contaminants, including melamine.
"We remain confident of dairy products produced under Australian brands. I am eager to have the issue resolved as soon as possible to remove any confusion among Indonesian consumers," said Farmer. ***3*** (T.AO14/A/HAJM/A/S012) 21:20/.... ) (T.A014/A/A014/A/S012) 06-03-2009 22:17:28 |
