DTI to monitor products with labels sans English text

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) announced they will begin monitoring supermarkets which are selling products with labels without English translations.

In a radio interview, Trade Undersecretary for Consumer Welfare Zenaida C. Maglaya said that they have reminded supermarket associations that they should not sell products that have Chinese, Japanese or Korean labels with no English translation because it is a violation.

Maglaya said there is an administrative order issued by the DTI together with the Department of Health (DOH) barring the sale of products that have no understandable labels. She said that Filipino translation is acceptable as long as the consumers will be able to understand the labels.

Maglaya reminded supermarket operators that they should not allow the sale of Taiwanese, Chinese products with no English or Filipino translation.

She noted that right now they are undergoing an information campaign and basic monitoring to ensure that their administrative order is being followed.

Earlier, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has added jams and tea beverages to the list of products from Taiwan that should be avoided because it may be tainted with a chemical dangerous to health. FDA Director Suzette Lazo ordered the immediate recall of “tentatively identified selected brands” of food products imported from Taiwan contaminated by the chemical Di (2-ethyexyl) phthalate (DEHP).

The list provided by the Taiwan authorities included more than 200 food brands of fruit juices, sports drinks, soft drinks, jellies, teas and jams.

Taiwan authorities have earlier confirmed that the chemical DEHP was illegally added to a food product raw material described as a “cloudy agent” and intended for emulsification.

Following the discovery, Taiwan authorities have required that all food products with food additives supplied from Yu Shen Co. be removed from shelves.

The list of products said to be contaminated by DEHP included sports drinks manufactured by Hyatt Brand Food Co.; fruit juices of various flavors produced by Bosi US International Industrial Co. Ltd. Kagawa Industrial Co. and Jing Wang Food Co.; fruit syrups manufactured by Lin International Trading Co., Ltd.; fruit juice powders by Wang Chun Industrial Corp. and Hip Shing Chemical Co. Ltd. and fruit drinks by Sun Biotech Co. Ltd., among others.