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.