BFAD: Partial list of 'safe' milk products out Friday
abs-cbnNEWS.com | 10/02/2008 6:22 PM
Printer-friendly version | 
Send to friend | 
Share your views
The Department of Health (DOH) on Thursday said it will release on Friday an initial list of products tested by the Bureau of Food and Drugs (BFAD) that are found to safe from the toxic chemical melamine.
In an interview with ANC, Health Secretary Francisco Duque said these products will be returned to supermarket shelves.
Duque is confident the BFAD's tests are accurate since the equipment is recognized as the standard used for testing other toxic substances.
"Our tests are pretty good, I think it would be able to detect melamine even in very minute quantities, and so we leave it at that. We have confidence in our testing equipment and these have been recognized as the standard for which melamine and other toxic chemicals can be tested," Duque said.
Duque also said there have been no reports so far of any child suffering from kidney problems caused by milk tainted with melamine.
The health chief said a check on hospitals across the country showed no indication China-made milk and dairy products have caused children to become ill.
Duque meanwhile said he's bothered by the statement of Chinese authorities that Cadbury chocolates made in China contain legally permissible amounts of melamine.
"What is clear to me is that melamine is never meant to be added to food or other food products, and that it has no place in the food preparation or in terms of being an additive. There is no policy whatsoever. So for me its either there is melamine or not," he said.
Taiwan removes Nestlé products
Meanwhile, Taiwan health officials on Thursday ordered stores around the island to remove six types of Nestlé dairy products after tests found traces of contamination from China, which is at the centre of a tainted milk powder imbroglio.
The island's Department of Health ordered the removal of Nestlé products from Heilongjiang province of northeastern China following tests that showed more than half of the items contained traces of melamine.
"Although there are no health concerns, our standards were exceeded, and to eliminate the public's suspicions altogether and ensure the rights of consumers, we have asked merchants to carry out a removal," the department said in a statement.
Nestle said its products were safe, but it would remove them from stores in Taiwan following the government order.
A growing list of Chinese milk and milk-related products have been taken off shelves around the world in recent weeks after they were found contaminated with the industrial chemical melamine, sickening tens of thousands and killing four children.
In the capital Taipei and Taiwan's second largest city Kaohsiung, store clerks piled jumbo cans marked KLIM and Nespray, two of the banned products, into carts, leaving shelves bare.
"First of all, we will take these products off the shelf," Taipei-based Nestle spokesman Liang Chia-jui told a news conference as he drank from a mug of one of his products. "Nestle will make consumer interests its top priority."
Nestlé officials said their products from China were safe and urged the Taiwan health department to introduce "science-based standards" for melamine tests. Last month Taiwan approved the sale of Nestle items from China, the company said.
Taiwan's standards are now 50 times stricter than the international norm, the Switzerland-based global dairy product manufacturer said. With reports from ANC and Reuters
