Tighten imported nutritional products
The Food Safety Department has just sent a document requesting strict inspection of products containing Whey protein concentrate imported from New Zealand.
Regarding the incident of Similac GainPlus Eye-Q milk for children 1 - 3 years oldinfectionClostridium Botulinum, the Food Safety Department (FSD), under the Ministry of Health, announced on August 5 that Abbott Vietnam and 3A Nutrition Company Limited (importer) had recalled 10,135 out of 12,927 Similac GainPlus Eye-Q cartons put on the market. On the same day, the FSD issued a document requesting Danone Vietnam Company Limited to stop circulation and urgently recall the batch of products warned of the risk of contamination with Clostridium botulinum bacteria. This batch of products is: Dumex Gold step 2 nutritional formula food for children from 6 to 12 months old, 800 gr type. The product has batch number 300513R1 manufactured on May 30, 2013 by Danone Dumex Company (Malaysia).
Imported nutritional products containing whey protein powder are being subject to strict quality checks - Photo: Ngoc Thang
According to the Director of the Food Safety Department, Tran Quang Trung, this is the largest milk recall incident in Vietnam recorded in many years. Fonterra - New Zealand (the company supplying powdered milk products)Whey proteinconcentrate contaminated with Clostridium Botulinums bacteria) has a large market share, supplying raw materials for the production of nutritional products to many countries. "Therefore, it is not impossible that there are still products suspected of being contaminated with the toxic bacteria Clostridium Botulinum that have been warned," Mr. Trung worried. To strengthen quality control, the Food Safety Department has sent a document to state inspection agencies for imported food, requesting strict inspection of products containing Whey protein concentrate imported from New Zealand. In case of detecting the above indicators in the product, it is recommended to immediately report to the Food Safety Department for timely resolution.
Samples of Similac GainPlus Eye-Q milk from the suspected contaminated batch were taken for testing at the National Institute for Food Safety and Hygiene to determine whether or not it was contaminated with Clotridium Botulinum bacteria. “If detected, the warning level will be raised. In case the test results confirm no contamination, the product batches have been recalled and will remain out of circulation,” Mr. Tran Quang Trung affirmed.
The Food Safety Department recommends that Clotridium Botulinum (C. Botulinum) is an extremely toxic bacteria with high survival rate. The bacteria can produce many toxins in cold storage conditions. The pathology of C. Botulinum in humans is caused by poisoning of C. Botulinum bacteria with symptoms of acute gastroenteritis syndrome; neurotoxicity with flaccid paralysis. The disease progresses rapidly and can be fatal. The bacteria are killed at 60 degrees Celsius for 30 minutes and by common disinfectants; to remove toxins, boil at 100 degrees Celsius for at least 15 minutes; to kill bacterial spores, boil at 100 degrees Celsius for at least 1 hour.
| Fonterra accused of delaying announcement of contamination New Zealand Prime Minister John Key on August 5 accused the dairy company Fonterra of delaying the announcement of the Clostridium Botulinum bacteria in its whey protein. Mr. Key argued on Radio New Zealand that the “tainted” whey protein was produced in May 2012 and that testing results showed “something,” but Fonterra still put them on the market and only announced the contamination information last weekend. On the same day, Fonterra CEO Theo Spierings apologized for the incident but denied the accusations. Meanwhile, Coca-Cola's Chinese branch has admitted using 25kg of contaminated whey protein to produce Minute Maid juice, according to AFP. Coca-Cola insists Minute Maid is still safe for consumers because it is produced at very high temperatures. However, the company still recalled the contaminated product. Faculty of Arts |
According to Thanh Nien - TH
