50% of snacks sold in schools unhealthy: BOMP<\/p>\n
A. Junaidi, , The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM) announced on Thursday
\nthat about 50 percent of the snacks sold in schools were
\nunhealthy, but admitted that no significant action had been taken
\nagaist the food producers.<\/p>\n
BPOM chief Sampoerno said during a press conference that the
\nagency took 193 samples of snacks from schools in 10 provinces
\nthroughout 2003 and found that half of the samples contained
\nsubstances harmful to children.<\/p>\n
\"The snacks were not up to health standards. We have reminded
\nrelated agencies to pay attention to our findings as it would
\naffect all of our children,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Sampoerno said many of the snacks were found to contain
\npreservatives and dyes commonly used in the textile industry.<\/p>\n
\"But almost all of the unhealthy snack producers are home
\nindustries. We just did not have the heart to punish them but did
\nreprimand them and tighten controls on them,\" he claimed.<\/p>\n
Last year, a research center, the Public Interest Research and
\nAdvocacy Center (PIRAC) discovered that 13 kinds of snacks
\ncontained monosodium glutamate (MSG) but failed to mention it on
\ntheir packages as required by consumer protection regulations.<\/p>\n
Some of the brands popular among children are produced by
\nmajor, established companies.<\/p>\n
Regular consumption of MSG may cause liver problems, trauma,
\nhypertension, stress, fever, allergic reactions, nausea, migraine
\nheadaches, asthma, depression and eventually neurological damage.<\/p>\n
The government has enacted Law No. 8\/1999 on consumer
\nprotection and Government Regulation No. 69\/1999 on labeling and
\nadvertisement of food products.<\/p>\n
Sampoerno said his agency also destroyed 1,812 food items
\nwhich were sold as parcels for the Idul Fitri Muslim holiday,
\nChristmas and New Year in its operation in 908 shops in Jakarta
\nbetween November and December last year.<\/p>\n
He said many of the items in the parcels had expired, were
\ndamaged or contained substances which were not mentioned in their
\nlabels.<\/p>\n
Sampoerno refused to identify the food items or their
\nproducers.<\/p>\n
\"We preferred not to take legal action as it would not be
\nreally effective. Based on our experience, the violators are just
\ngiven lenient sentences, such as suspended jail terms and small
\nfines,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The agency, he said had cooperated with police in upholding
\nthe law. There were 250 violations related to drugs, 36 cases on
\nfood, 30 cases on traditional medicines and three cases on
\ncosmetics that were brought to the courts last year.<\/p>\n
He said the courts only sentenced the violators to between 15
\ndays and one year in jail or fined them between Rp 15,000
\n(US$1.7) and Rp 10 million.<\/p>\n
Separately, the chairman of the Health Consumer Protection
\nFoundation Marius Widjajanto said BPOM's announcement was useless
\nas no legal actions followed.<\/p>\n
\"The announcement was just ceremonial. BPOM didn't tell us the
\ncompanies or the products,\" Marius told The Jakarta Post on
\nThursday. He said he had reported a number of companies to the
\nagency but never received satisfactory responses.<\/p>\n
He is disappointed that the agency only targeted small home
\nbusinesses, and ignored the large companies.<\/p>\n
\"So, we warn consumers to increase their awareness and not
\nmerely depend on BPOM,\" he said.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/50-of-snacks-sold-in-schools-unhealthy-bomp-1447893297",
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