Formaldehyde-free products in Lampung

Formaldehyde-free products in Lampung

The Jakarta Post, Lampung/Yogyakarta

Following the widespread use of dangerous chemicals in food
products, the Metro and Bandarlampung city administrations in
Lampung province are planning to give certification to products
by labeling them formaldehyde-free and to issue a bylaw to
regulate the sale of formaldehyde.

Metro Mayor Lukman Hakim said on Wednesday that his office was
currently registering producers who supplied food products to the
markets.

"The label will prevent the sale of products that contain
dangerous chemicals like formaldehyde," Lukman said without
saying when the labelling system would come into effect.

The Food and Drug Monitoring Office in the province found that
almost all traditional markets in Lampung, seven in Bandarlampung
city alone, sell formaldehyde-contaminated food products --
ranging from fresh and salted fish to tofu and noodles.

Formaldehyde -- widely used in the production of fertilizer,
paper, plywood as well as for industrial fungicide, germicide and
disinfectant, and as a preservative in mortuaries and medical
laboratories -- is being widely used as a preservative in certain
foods, mainly because it is cheap and it makes food last longer.

Lukman said the labeling was necessary to cut the widespread
use of formaldehyde in food as well as to ensure the food was
safe to consume.

"Without controlling the use of formaldehyde, people will be
reluctant to eat fish, and this will disadvantage not only fish
traders but also many fishermen who will lose their livelihood,"
he said.

Apart from the labeling a bylaw would be issued to regulate
formaldehyde trading, because, as there are no restrictions on
its sale anyone could buy it, said Lukman.

"So there will be a clear mechanism under a related office to
control the sale of formaldehyde. For instance, certain places
will be appointed that are permitted to sell formaldehyde and
buyers will be required to provide information as to the purpose
of buying the substance," he said.

The Metro City Council is currently deliberating a draft bylaw
on healthy food and beverage labeling, which will require food
producers to have a formaldehyde-free label.

Chairman of the council's special committee on the draft
bylaw, Supriyadi, said the bylaw would be intended to protect
consumers from irresponsible producers. "But of course the bylaw
will be ineffective without strict action from the related
offices in charge to monitor and prevent the use of poisonous
substances in food and beverages," he said.

Consumers in Yogyakarta, also need to be on the alert as the
Food and Drug Monitoring Office in the province found that 95
percent of noodles sold in the markets use formaldehyde.

The office head, Rini Astuti, said the finding came following
a survey in which 40 samples of noodles sold in traditional
markets were examined. The survey, she said, found that 95
percent of fresh noodles that came from six producers used
formaldehyde at the level of 101.23-24 parts per million (ppm).

The survey, she said, also found formaldehyde at the level of
337.23 ppm to 462.36 ppm in the samples of salted fish collected
from 21 traders. But none of tofu collected from 14 producers
used the substance.

However, she declined to name the noodle producers, only
saying that her office would take legal action against them.