Official laments local food safety standards
BOGOR, West Java (JP): Food quality remains almost alarmingly low because many hazardous substances are still found in foods in local markets, an official said at a seminar over the weekend.
According to Mulyo Sidik, an assistant to the minister of food, unhygienic processing and excessive use of chemical substances in food preparation are major problems.
"It is getting worse because until now there is no law which regulates government control on food safety," he said, adding that agents of control should involve the government, producers as well as consumers.
According to Mulyo, unhygienic food can lower productivity, reduce thinking ability, adversely affect the body's immunity system and even cause death.
The seminar titled Food Safety and Consumer Protection was held by the school of agriculture of Djuanda University in Ciawi.
Hendri Mevetra, a seminar coordinator, told The Jakarta Post that the seminar was aimed to improve consumers' awareness and urge the food industry to pay better attention to food safety.
Thomas Darmawan, director of the food and beverages producers association, said that the food industry has grown into a jungle of unfair competition including the forgery of brands, the use of materials unsuitable for consumption, and unhygienic usage of packaging and erroneous food handling.
A.Z. Nasution from the Indonesian Consumers Foundation stressed the need for Indonesia to have a law on consumer protection.
"Many people are hesitant to file lawsuits upon seeing that those who take their complains to the court end up being disappointed," Nasution said.
Despite cogent criticism, Rahardjo, head of the food production and distribution control subdirectorate, said that various attempts to control food circulation have been implemented.
"However, the number of producers are also increasing which poses new challenges to increasing our control and sophistication," Rahardjo said.
The seminar was attended by some 200 participants from various government agencies, the private sector, as well as university students. (21/14)