Tighten control over imported nutritional products.
The Food Safety Administration has just sent a document requesting strict inspection of products containing whey protein concentrate imported from New Zealand.
Regarding the alleged incident involving Similac GainPlus Eye-Q milk for children aged 1-3 years.infectionThe Food Safety Department (FSD) under the Ministry of Health announced on August 5th that Abbott Vietnam and 3A Nutrition Co., Ltd. (the importer) have recalled 10,135 out of 12,927 cartons of Similac GainPlus Eye-Q that were released to the market. On the same day, the FSD issued a document requesting Danone Vietnam Co., Ltd. to stop distribution and urgently recall the batch of products warned of potential contamination with Clostridium botulinum. This batch is Dumex Gold Stage 2 infant formula for children aged 6-12 months, 800g size. The product has batch number 300513R1 and was manufactured on May 30, 2013, by Danone Dumex (Malaysia).
Imported nutritional products containing whey protein powder are subject to stricter quality checks - Photo: Ngoc Thang
According to Tran Quang Trung, Director of the Food Safety Department, this is the largest milk recall incident recorded in Vietnam in many years. Fonterra - New Zealand (the company supplying the powdered milk product) is the company responsible.Whey proteinWhey protein concentrate contaminated with Clostridium Botulinums has a large market share, supplying raw materials for the production of nutritional products to many countries. "Therefore, it cannot be ruled out that there are still products suspected of being contaminated with the toxic bacterium Clostridium Botulinum that have been flagged," Mr. Trung expressed his concern. To strengthen quality control, the Food Safety Department has sent a document to state food import inspection agencies requesting strict inspection of products containing whey protein concentrate imported from New Zealand. If the aforementioned bacterium is detected in a product, please report it immediately to the Food Safety Department for timely resolution.
Samples of Similac GainPlus Eye-Q milk from the suspected contaminated batch have been tested at the National Institute for Food Safety and Hygiene Testing to determine whether or not it is contaminated with Clostridium Botulinum bacteria. “If detected, the alert level will be raised. If the test confirms no contamination, the recalled batches will remain out of circulation,” Mr. Tran Quang Trung affirmed.
The Food Safety Administration warns that Clostridium botulinum (C. botulinum) is an extremely toxic bacterium with a high survival rate. The bacteria can produce many toxins under refrigerated storage conditions. C. botulinum disease in humans is caused by bacterial poisoning, manifesting as acute gastroenteritis; neurotoxicity with flaccid paralysis. The disease progresses rapidly and can be fatal. The bacteria are killed at 60°C in 30 minutes and by common disinfectants; to neutralize toxins, boiling at 100°C for at least 15 minutes is required; to kill bacterial spores, boiling at 100°C for at least 1 hour is necessary.
| Fonterra is accused of delaying the announcement of the infection. New Zealand Prime Minister John Key accused Fonterra Dairy on August 5th of delaying the disclosure that its whey protein was contaminated with Clostridium Botulinum bacteria. Key argued on New Zealand Radio that the "tainted" whey protein was produced in May 2012 and that tests had already shown "something was wrong," yet Fonterra still released it to the market and only announced the contamination at the end of the week. On the same day, Fonterra CEO Theo Spierings apologized for the incident but denied the accusation. Meanwhile, Coca-Cola's Chinese subsidiary has admitted to using 25 kg of contaminated whey protein to produce Minute Maid fruit juice, according to AFP. Coca-Cola maintains that Minute Maid remains safe for consumers because it is produced at very high temperatures. However, the company is still recalling the contaminated product. Faculty of Literature |
According to Thanh Nien - TH
