No Pork-Tainted Candy Here: Govt
Jakarta. Indonesian health authorities are conducting a series of tests on foods following reports that pork DNA was found in chocolates produced by Cadbury in mainly Muslim Malaysia.
"We will collect samples and conduct a lab test to prove Cadbury's compliance," Roy Alexander Sparingga, the head of Indonesia's Food and Drugs Monitoring Agency (BPOM), told the Jakarta Globe.
The report over the weekend that traces of porcine DNA had been found in two products sold by Cadbury in Malaysia — Dairy Milk Hazelnut and Dairy Milk Roast Almond — have sparked public concerns of similar problems here.
Indonesians have taken to social media to note that the same chocolate varieties can be found here as well, although Roy said they were not officially registered with the BPOM, the body authorized to monitor packaged food products.
"There are only 10 variants of Cadbury chocolate that have obtained halal certification from the MUI [Indonesian Council of Ulema]," Roy said.
Cadbury's Dairy Milk Hazelnut was previously registered with the BPOM, he said, but the registration has since expired; while Cadbury's request to have its Dairy Milk Roast Almond distributed here has not been approved.
"If any of those products are found in Indonesia it's safe to assume they entered the market illegally," Roy said.
He said all imported food products must obtain an import notification letter issued by the BPOM before it could enter the market.
"As of today, we haven't issued any such notification for those variants of chocolates," he said.
Roy also noted that halal testing in Indonesia was voluntary, and that producers who wanted their products to be labeled as such could apply for a test by the MUI's Food, Drug and Cosmetics Assessment Agency (LPPOM), which is the only body in the country currently authorized to issue halal certification.
"However, the producers still have the obligation to inform consumers [about non-halal content] by putting that information on the label," Roy said. "Despite the scare I want to urge the public not to worry because I have instructed all provincial offices of the BPOM to check if those products are distributed in our markets."
Sudaryatmo, the executive director of the Indonesian Consumer Protection Foundation (YLKI), agreed that Cadbury was obliged to inform consumers about the ingredients in its products, even if halal certification was purely voluntary.
"It doesn't matter if the products contain pig DNA, just as long as it is properly printed on the label and sold in specially marked non-halal sections in stores," Sudaryatmo said.
He urged the BPOM to lean on the confectionery producer to come clean about non-halal content in its locally sold products, and if it refused, to conduct its own tests to quell public concerns.
If the content of the products as tested differ from the label, he said, the BPOM should take a firm stance by removing the products from store shelves.
"The consumers have the right to information, so we urge the producers to be transparent in disclosing their ingredients," Sudaryatmo said.
In Malaysia, Cadbury has taken to Facebook to say it is taking serious steps to investigate the recent findings.
"For now, we continue to focus our efforts and resources on the ongoing investigation and work closely with JAKIM [the Malaysian Islamic Development Department] to ensure that your Cadbury products are compliant with halal guidelines," it wrote on its official Facebook page.
Agence France-Presse reported that Malaysian Muslims were outraged by the reports of the pig-tainted chocolate.
Syaikh Ismail Muhammad, the grand imam of the national mosque in Kuala Lumpur, was quoted by the Bernama news agency as saying that tough action by the government would serve as a lesson to other food producers to ensure their products were halal.
Following the protests Cadbury stated that it had taken the products in question off the shelves pending an investigation. The company also emphasized that no other products were affected.
Posted by: "Sunny" <ambon@tele2.se>
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