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By Francis Allan L. Angelo and Jeehan V. Fernandez
GOVERNMENT agencies in the city and province of Iloilo are closely monitoring the presence of Chinese milk products following the ban on the said products.
The Bureau of Food and Drugs (BFAD) the other day imposed a ban on liquid and powdered milk, candy, biscuits, chocolate bars and drinks, and yogurt with dairy components from China.
The ban was imposed amid growing fears over the safety of dairy products made in China where four children have died and more than 50,000 have fallen ill after drinking milk tainted with the industrial chemical melamine.
Iloilo Governor Niel Tupas Sr. has ordered municipal governments to look after Chinese branded milk and repacked milk products that have no label.
Tupas said town officials must regularly monitor local markets for banned milk products and confiscate them for examination.
Mayor Jerry Treñas, for his part, said City Health Office sanitary inspectors have coordinated with BFAD inspectors in checking groceries and supermarkets that sell banned China milk products.
Treñas said they are waiting for Bfad’s next move after the agency issued directives to groceries and supermarkets to pull out all Chinese dairy products.
BFAD chief Delia Tarrosa said they inspected shopping malls and groceries in the city immediately after their central office issued the ban through a health advisory.
Tarrosa said shopping malls have voluntarily pulled out milk products from China even before the ban was issued.
Corazon Guidote, investor relations officer of the SM Investments Corp., said the mall chain has already pulled out all Yili, Mengniu and Mon Milk products in its supermarkets since last week. She added that customers who may have bought the products can have these replaced with a different brand.
“There were only few of these (milk) products here in Iloilo City but our BFAD personnel along with the local government units in the region are now doing market surveillance and monitoring of business outlets to make sure that the reported products are pulled out from the market,” Tarrosa said.
Tarrosa added: “Now, we are waiting for the consolidated reports from our BFAD in different provinces of the region so that we will be able to know how may of these questionable Chinese produced milk products/infant formula reached the region.”
A public health advisory from DOH-BFAD dated September 22, 2008 directed “all licensed importers and distributors of registered milk products sourced from China to immediately stop temporarily from further importing, distributing, selling and offering for sale the products until further notice from BFAD.”
BFAD director Leticia Barbara Gutierrez said “there is no registered infant formula produced and imported from China.”
“Thus the Philippine consumers are advised not to purchase and use outright infant formula from China that might have been brought into the country through unauthorized means. Instead, please report (it) immediately to BFAD of Center for Health and Development offices.”
The BFAD also urged officials of local government units to investigate infant formula and milk products from China that might have slipped into the country to ensure the safe supply of food imports from China.
The BFAD continues to determine whether or not the samples of Chinese milk products contain melamine to ensure the safety of imported food supply.
Melamine has been found in infant formula and other milk products from 22 of China’s dairy companies. Suppliers trying to cut costs are believed to have added it to water-down milk because its high nitrogen content masks the resulting protein deficiency.
Melamine is a toxic chemical used in the manufacture of plastic and glue products. Several babies in China have died and many are suffering from kidney stones after consuming the contaminated milk.
The 22 Chinese companies include Shijiazhuang Sanlu Group Co., Shanghai Panda Dairy Co. Ltd., Synutra International Inc., Shanxi Gucheng Dairy Co. Ltd., Jiangxi Bright & Hero Dairy Co., Baoji Huimin Milk Co. Ltd., Mengniu Dairy, Duojiaduo Dairy Industry (Tianjin) Co. Ltd., Guangdong Yashili Group Co. Ltd., Hunan Peiyi Dairy Co. Heilongjiang Qining Dairy Co., Shanxi Yashili Dairy Co. Ltd., Shenzhen Jinbishi Milk Co. Ltd., Guangzhou Shien Dairy Co., Guangzhou Jinding Dairy Co., Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group Co., Ausmeadow Nutriment Co. Ltd., Qingdao Suncare Nutritional Technology Co. Ltd., Xi’an Baiyue Dairy Co. Ltd., Yantai Leilei Dairy Products Co. Ltd., Shanghai Bao’anli Dairy Co. Ltd. and Fuding Chenguan Dairy Co. Ltd. (With reports from Lydia C. Pendon and PIA)
By Francis Allan L. Angelo
A SUSPECTED robber died inside the LaPaz police station Monday hours after he was arrested for allegedly pilfering an iron bar from a commercial building.
Jose Gallo Verde, 28, of Brgy. Sta. Cruz, Arevalo, Iloilo City collapsed inside the LaPaz PNP detention cell 7pm Monday.
Chief Insp. Uldarico Garbanzos, LaPaz police chief, said Security Guard Gilbert Salondaga of the Cristina Colonnade Building in Huervana Street, LaPaz arrested Verde after he was caught stealing an iron flat bar worth P700.
Garbanzos said Verde resisted the blue guard and fled from the building towards Rizal Street, LaPaz.
Salondaga asked for helped from bystanders in the area who quickly swarmed and mauled Verde.
Members of the LaPaz police who responded to the incident said the bystanders were still manhandling Verde when they arrived.
Garbanzos said the badly beaten Verde was detained 3:30pm then lost consciousness around 7pm.
The police rushed Verde to the West Visayas State University Medical Center but he was declared dead on arrival.
Garbanzos said the jailer on duty and investigator handling Verde’s case offered to take the latter to the hospital but he refused.
“We are still investigating the case to find out if our officers are telling the truth. It’s the first time that an inmate died during my investigation. We sympathize with the family of Verde and we assure that we will get to the bottom of this,” Garbanzos said.
Garbanzos also asked civilians who arrest felons not to maul them “although it is really hard to resist our violent tendencies when we catch criminals.”
scrimgeour
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