'Purge misleading food product ads'

'Purge misleading food product ads'

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Two consumer watchdogs have urged the government to help stop
misleading advertisements on food and supplement products.

The Indonesian Pharmaceutical Watch (IPhW) and the Indonesian
Consumers Foundation (YLKI) said a number of advertisements
fooled the consumers and could be considered criminal offenses.

It was time for the government to correct the control and
registration mechanism for both the promotion and the labeling of
products, the watchdogs said.

"We criticize all advertisement practices that exploit the
consumers' poor knowledge. We also question how the government
can allow such advertisements," IPhW chairman Amir Hamzah Pane
told reporters.

Amir, speaking at a joint media briefing with YLKI, accused PT
Dwi Kelinci, the producer of peanut snacks Dua Kelinci and Kacang
Shanghai DK, of having deliberately misled consumers by labeling
its products as free from cholesterol, bleach and sweetener.

In its advertisement published in the print media, PT Dwi
Kelinci thanked the Food and Drug Control Agency for approving
Kacang Shanghai DK as bleach and sweetener free. It also thanked
the Ministry of Industry and Trade for allowing the company to
label its Dua Kelinci snacks cholesterol free.

"This is a double standard in the registration mechanism
because such labeling and its control should be in the hands of
the Ministry of Health," Amir said.

The company had also falsely claimed that its products had
been approved by the YLKI.

A Biochemist from the Jakarta-based National University,
Ernawati Sinaga, said that such labeling was irrelevant and
biased as it was common knowledge that as plant-made products,
the snacks didn't contain cholesterol that could endanger the
consumers' health.

"Peanuts contain phytosterol, which is good for health, and
are coated with wheat flour which is already white. The snacks
are fried so sweetener is never used in the products. The
advertisements are really misleading because it can be read that
other similar peanut snacks contain all that," she said.

Amir said that many other advertisements had made improper
claims.

He cited an advertisement for the fiber drink Vegeta, which
stated that fiber acted like a lubricant for the human body when
studies showed that fiber could cause intestinal obstruction.

Another misleading advertisement dealt with the instant milk
Dancow which encouraged children to drink milk before bedtime
because "sleeping was the prime time for growing", he said.

YLKI legal staffer Muhammad Ichsan reminded the producers not
to make false claims and to reveal the actual composition of its
products.

Ichsan said YLKI would take legal action against PT Dwi for
using its name in the advertisement, implying as if the watchdog
stood on the producers' side.

Ichsan said the foundation had asked PT Dwi to clarify the
matter through advertisements in the same print media.

"If the company fails to meet our demands within the next
seven days we will send a legal warning to them. If they still
fail to heed our warning then we will sue them in court," he
said.

In accordance to Law No. 8/1999 on Consumers Protection
Article 9 and Article 62, such an advertisement can cause the
producer to face five-years in jail and a Rp 2 billion fine.