Jakarta, Feb 6 (Antara) - Indonesia's predominantly Muslim consumers deserve immediate information about any finding on pork-tainted products, because based on their faith, they are not allowed to consume goods containing pork.
According to the Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI), if a product is found to have a problem, it should be made public soon, so that the people would be aware of it. "This is part of the protection for consumers," YLKI Chairman Tulus Abadi stated in Jakarta on Monday.
The YLKI chairman made the statement in response to a recent announcement by the Food and Drug Supervisory Agency (BPOM) that Viostin DS food supplement and Enzyplex tablet contained pork derivatives.
The drug and food supervisory agency's announcement was considered late, as it had disclosed the matter to the public only two months after it found that Voistin DS and Enzyplex tablet contained pork derivatives. According to the consumer foundation, BPOM should have immediately announced its finding that Viostin DS and Enzyplex Tablet contained pig DNA.
"If the people are already informed that the supplement contains pig DNA, they can choose whether or not to consume it," Abadi noted at a press conference on Monday (Feb 5).
Information about pig DNA content in Viostin DS and Enzyplex Tablet was known to the public after one of BPOM employees uploaded it on social media. It happened approximately after two months of reporting the finding.
"BPOM says it believes that the manufacturers would accelerate the distribution of product licenses, but when finding a problem with a product, why does it not immediately announce it to the public?" Abadi asked.
BPOM Chief Penny K. Lukito remarked that the information about the supplements containing pig DNA raised public concern, after one of the employees at BPOM uploaded it on social media.
"Actually, we are in the process of officially announcing it. After all, it is not a confidential material," Lukito revealed. The BPOM chief stated that Viostin DS and Enzyplex tablet were discovered to contain pig DNA through post-market supervision by BPOM officers. The BPOM officers have been withdrawing it from the market since November 2017.
According to Lukito, in the pre-market supervision or pre-market test, both products did not contain pork or pig derivatives. Laboratory tests on raw materials were carried out by the Indonesian Ulema Council's (MUI's) Food and Drug Analysis Agency (LPPOM).
"At the time of pre-market supervision, we believe the company provided the correct information to speed up registration, so that the product would soon reach the public," Lukito noted.
LPPOM Director Lukmanul Hakim revealed that Viostin DS and Enzyplex tablet have not been certified as halal (allowed based Islamic law) by MUI.
"The two products have not been certified as halal and have not filed application for a halal certification. We disclosed in the beginning that the two products did not contain pork during pre-market laboratory analysis," Hakim told a news conference at the BPOM in Jakarta on Monday.
Hakim added that even though they were not yet certified as halal, LPPOM had checked the raw materials of the products during pre-market analysis. As a result, the raw materials of both products did not contain pork.
According to Hakin, LPPOM is an accredited halal certification institution that cooperates with BPOM to conduct laboratory analysis on raw materials of a product.
The results of the Laboratory analysis of LPPOM at pre-market test was used by BPOM as the basis to give circulation permit to Viostin DS and Enzyplex tablet. "It turned out that both products were found to contain pig DNA during post-market supervision by BPOM," Hakim explained.
BPOM has previously revealed that Viostin DS food supplement, produced by PT Pharos Indonesia, and Enzyplex tablet, produced by PT Meidfarma Laboratories, were tested positive for pig DNA.
The BPOM's laboratory tested samples from Viostin DS batch BN C6K994H, produced by PT Pharos Indonesia, with distribution license NIE POM SD.051523771; and from Enzyplex batch 16185101, produced by PT Medifarma Laboratories, with distribution license NIE DBL7214704016A1.
In the meantime, PT Pharos Indonesia's Corporate Communications Director Ida Nurtika has clarified that Viostin DS' raw materials are obtained from cattle provided by Spanish suppliers offering halal assurance from a halal certification agency.
"They provide a guarantee in the form of a halal certificate which after we check, the certificate is issued by an institution recognized by the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI)," Nurtika noted at a press conference in Jakarta on Tuesday (Feb 6.)
With a halal certificate from an institution recognized by the MUI, PT Pharos Indonesia is confident that the raw material chondroitin sulfate is not derived from pigs.
It was not until November 2017 that the BPOM had conducted a post-market inspection and declared Viostin DS, with a specific distribution number, proven to contain pig DNA.
"We were shocked by this (finding) and immediately coordinated the withdrawal of all Viostin DS products in circulation, including those with different permit numbers from those found containing pig DNA by the BPOM," she revealed.
Hence, Nurtika denied that Viostin DS products contain materials sourced from pigs. She asserted that PT Pharos Indonesia uses raw materials obtained from cows. "After we checked, we believe it does contain or is tainted (by pig DNA). To offer a sense of security and as a form of our concern to consumers, we are withdrawing all Viostin DS products," she stated.
The BPOM has instructed PT. Pharos Indonesia and PT Medifarma Laboratories to stop the production and distribution of products carrying that batch numbers (batch BN C6K994H for Viostin DS and batch 16185101 for Enzyplex)
Responding to these instructions, PT. Pharos Indonesia has withdrawn all Viostin DS products, with the mentioned NIE and batch numbers, from the market and stopped the manufacturing of Viostin DS products.
Likewise, PT Medifarma Laboratories has also withdrawn all Enzyplex tablet products, with the mentioned NIE and batch number, from the market.
As a precautionary measure and for consumer protection, the BPOM has instructed its branches across Indonesia to continuously monitor and withdraw products that do not meet the requirements, including those detected to contain pig DNA but do not include "Contain Pig Notice." ***4***
(A014/INE)
EDITED BY INE/B003
(T.A014/A/BESSR/Bustanuddin) 06-02-2018 21:41 |
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