Expired food items seized in Lampung, Yogyakarta

Expired food items seized in Lampung, Yogyakarta

Oyos Saroso H.N. and Slamet Susanto, The Jakarta Post,
Bandarlampung/Yogyakarta

Ahead of the Idul Fitri holiday, provincial administrations are
beginning the annual campaign to safeguard consumers against
harmful food items.

In Yogyakarta, 1,075 packages of various food items were
seized by the provincial Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM)
for fear they posed a danger to consumers. Zulaimah of the agency
said on Thursday the food items were either expired, contained
harmful substances or were not registered with the agency.

Of the packages, 68 were damaged, 20 were expired, five had
already been withdrawn from the market and six contained harmful
substances.

Separately, the head of the provincial agricultural and animal
husbandry agency, Ngadiyono, warned the public to be cautious
when buying meat.

Demand for beef and poultry usually increases ahead of the
Idul Fitri holiday and people are eager to find the best
bargains.

"We have set up a team to prevent (the sale of bad meat) but
the public must still exercise caution," he said.

People should refrain from buying meat that is overly dark and
has a stronger than usual odor, he said.

Pale looking beef also should not be purchased, Ngadiyono
said. "It has a high water content because before being killed,
the cows are flushed with water so the meat swells and the
merchant gets more profit."

Ngadiyono also warned people against buying chicken which was
bluish in color.

Also on Thursday, the Lampung BPOM seized 1.4 tons of noodles
suspected of containing formaldehyde and borax from several
traditional markets in the province.

The noodles were packaged in 280 plastic bags, each containing
five kilograms of noodles. The agency also seized 420 kilograms
of formaldehyde, 510 kilograms of borax and five kilograms of
dye.

BPOM investigators failed to locate the suspected producer of
the noodles, which they traced back to the village of Haduyang in
Natar, South Lampung. However, they did identify the suspect as
Erwin Tanjung.

Employees at the factory where the suspect noodles were
produced said they did not know who owned the factory. One of the
employees said the noodles were distributed across Lampung and a
number of cities in other provinces in Sumatra.

The noodles are usually sold directly to traditional markets,
where they are purchased mainly by noodle and meatball vendors,
the employee said.

The head of the Lampung BPOM, Tri Suyarto, said the company,
PT Abadi Jaya, should immediately withdraw all of its products
and destroy the noodles in its warehouse.

Formaldehyde is used as a preserve and borax helps shape the
noodles and prevent them from easily breaking apart, Suyarto
said.

Borax is usually used in the production of glass, while
formaldehyde is used to preserve corpses.

The BPOM identified the suspected factory, located behind an
auto workshop, by tracing the origins of the noodles.

"We had been told by people about noodles that could last for
a week," said Suyarto of the initial tip that led the agency to
the noodles.

Hardadi, the lead investigator at the agency, said the use of
borax and formaldehyde violated the 1992 health law and the 1996
law on food. The violations carry a maximum prison term of five
years.

The head of the Lampung branch of the Indonesian Consumers
Foundation, Subadrayani Moersalin, said similar cases had been
found in Lampung but the suspects were always released.

"I fear there will be more victims without proper law
enforcement," Subadrayani said.