Slow FDA response raises questions

KRISSANA PARNSOONTHORN and WORANUJ MANEERUNGSEE

The tainted milk scandal in China has alarmed consumers and food-safety authorities worldwide, but some activists complain that the alarm bells rang late at the Thai Food and Drug Administration.

The FDA has been seen as slow to act forcefully, even as countries from Australia to Tanzania banned products suspected of containing tainted milk originating in China.

Consumer activist Salee Ongsomwang said the FDA underestimated the situation and its possible impact on consumers and did not send any serious warnings to the public.

"The FDA just came out on the first day [the problem was reported] and said only that Thailand did not import tainted milk from China. It had no precautionary measure to prevent the problem. Some risky products that may possibly use this milk as ingredients were not included," she said.

No serious actions or product bans emerged for more than a week after reports originated in China of the use of melamine, an industrial chemical, in milk products. Tainted formula has killed four Chinese infants and sickened 53,000 others, with as many as 22 producers implicated.

Only last Thursday did the FDA ask retailers and distributors to pull some products from their shelves, pending tests for melamine contamination.

The products were Oreo wafer sticks, Dove milk chocolate bars, M&M chocolate candies, Snickers caramel peanut bars and nougat, Mentos yoghurt candies, and Mao Huad coffee and oatmeal crackers.

Prapassorn, 41, a housewife, said she went to a supermarket last Friday and saw the shelves were still full of many Oreo and M&M products.

"I didn't see any difference. My confidence in product safety is not 100% even they are allowed to sell these products. I don't know what the FDA did during the past week. I searched the internet and saw a lot of reports that many countries had banned a number of products related to Chinese milk already," she said.

A Bangkok Post survey found that major retailers had removed the suspect products but consumers may not notice as other products under the same brands with similar appearances are now on the shelves.

Manit Arunakul, the FDA deputy secretary-general, defended the agency, saying it had taken all the proper steps. It did block the entry of Chinese tainted milk at all ports from Sept 17 but the public might not have noticed.

"We did everything carefully and our staff always go out and check the products that were at risk for melamine contamination. Until now, we haven't found any contaminated products," he said.

In any case, Ms Salee says Thai consumers need to do more to help themselves, reducing consumption of potentially risky products, and reading labels more carefully for expiry dates and key ingredients.

They can also help each other by informing others about suspect products or bad behavior by producers or supermarkets that try to sell expired foods.

"Today's consumers need facts and then they will decide what they want to buy and eat. If you cheat them, they won't come back to you," she said.

In the face of the milk scare, mothers are being encouraged to breastfeed their babies. Powdered milk formula may not be necessary until an infant is one or even two years old.

Dr Krisda Sirampuj, the director of the International Anti-Ageing Medicine Institute, said it was also time to reconsider the danger of melamine, which was once regarded non-toxic.

"The use of more than 3,000 milligrammes of melamine per one kilogramme of body weight is harmful to humans. I think the authorities have to revise down the limit," he said.

The Chinese dairy producers added melamine, which is rich in nitrogen, to substandard or watered-down milk to fool quality checks, which often use nitrogen levels to measure the protein in milk. The tainted products can cause kidney stones and kidney failure.

Dr Krisda also said packaging or tableware containing melamine could harm humans when heated up to 60C, when it could become toxic.

He suggested that consumers buy drinking milk made from whole milk rather than powdered milk. In addition, whole milk is more nutritional.

Local producers using whole milk include Chokchai, Chitrlada from the Royal Projects, as well as Nong Pho.