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BFAD finds Formalin in China candies

- Sheila Crisostomo -

Four candy brands manufactured in China, including the popular White Rabbit, were banned yesterday by the government for containing formaldehyde, a substance used for embalming.

The Department of Health (DOH) and the Bureau of Food and Drugs urged the public “to refrain from buying and consuming” White Rabbit Creamy Candy, Milk Candy, Balrong Grape Biscuits and Yong Kang Foods Grape Biscuits in an advisory signed by BFAD director Leticia Barbara-Gutierrez.

The BFAD urged importers, distributors and other establishments selling the candies to withdraw them from the market until there is evidence that they are safe and fit for human consumption.

Despite this development, China reported that the quality of its food products has improved significantly.

In a statement, the Chinese Embassy said food exports are now safer to consume, noting that tests on more than 3,000 different kinds of foodstuff showed that about 86 percent were up to standard.

White Rabbit candy is manufactured by Shanghai Guan Sheng Yuan Food General Factory, Shanghai and distributed by Cheng Ban Yek & Co. Inc. Milk Candy is manufactured by Romanticfish Food Industry Co., Inc., Fujian with no licensed distributor.

Balrong Grape Biscuits is manufactured by Dongguan Balrong Foodstuff Co. Ltd. and distributed by Goodway International Trading Corp., while Yong Kang Foods Grape Biscuit is manufactured by Dongguan Yongkang Food Co. Ltd. with no licensed distributor. Both products are manufactured in Donggan City, Guangdong.

The products were among the goods randomly collected by the DOH and BFAD from the market after the Chinese government shut down 180 food factories in China for using formaldehyde, commonly known as formalin, a few weeks ago.

Prior to this, some countries in North and South America have also rejected Chinese-made toothpaste, while Chinese wheat gluten tainted with chemical melamine was blamed for the deaths of cats and dogs in

North America.

The BFAD had already requested its counterpart in China and the Chinese Embassy for a list of these companies to determine if they export their products to the Philippines.

The Chinese embassy reiterated that significant quality improvement is attributed to stricter supervision and the implementation of a market access mechanism.

But China’s General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, according to the embassy, admitted that there were still problems including the excessive use of food additives and pathogenic bacteria such as the coli groups that were found in some samples.

The embassy said products from different processing companies including milk, beer, jelly, fruit juice, milk powder, canned goods, and dried foods and nuts indicated in the tests that they were getting safer.

Ji Zhengkun, director of the administration’s quality inspection department, said the proportion of food products tested and qualified was the highest in recent years.

Tests from January to June, Ji said, showed that 89.3 percent of beer products met required standards, 5.2 percent of dried food and nuts were also up to standard.

Inspectors did not find any excessive use of food additives, a common problem in dried food.

For those that did not qualify, Ji said irregular labeling was mainly to blame.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry said, “China has been very responsible in every phase of production, circulation, import and export, as well as legislation, execution, supervision and management to ensure the good quality and safety of its exports.”

Industrial oils, acid, cancer-causing chemicals and other dangerous ingredients have been found in thousands of foods in China such as baby milk powder, rice, flour, meat, biscuits, seafood, soy sauce and sweets.

China’s General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said more than 23,000 tainted or sub-standard foods were found and 180 food manufacturers closed in the crackdown from December last year to May.

Some of the industrial products found in food included formaldehyde, an emabalming chemical, and hydrochloric acid, which was found in some beef products.

Other materials detected included industrial paraffin, which was found in vermicelli, and the dye malachite green, which can be carcinogenic.

China’s food safety record has drawn international attention since mislabeled chemical exports were mixed into cough syrup in Panama and pet food in the US.

US inspectors have banned or turned away a growing number of Chinese exports containing high levels of toxins or potentially deadly chemicals, including frozen fish, juice and toothpaste. – with Pia Lee-Brago

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