Indonesia protests Vietnam over melamine contamination issue
Written by Writer on Tuesday, October 14th, 2008
Indonesia protests Vietnam over melamine contamination issue
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Indonesian government has sent a protest to the Vietnamese government about the latter`s statement about alleged melamine-contaminated Khong Guan biscuits made in Indonesia, a food control official said.
“Today, we sent the written protest to Vietnamese government through the Indonesian embassy in Hanoi with copies to the Trade Ministry. The ministry should also send a protest because according to the results of our own tests, the product is not contaminated with melamine,” the head of the Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM), Husniah Rubiana Thamrin Akib, said here Monday.
She said the government had tested Khong Guan biscuits to see whether they contained melamine — a chemical used in plastic and fertilizer production. The testing was done in accredited laboratories in Vietnam and Indonesia.
The tests by both laboratories had shown there was no melamine in the biscuits, she said.
“The results were negative. Even with the LC MSMS method which has a sensitivity of up to one part per billion, no melamine was detected,” she said.
According to the Vietnamese health authority, the melamine content found in Khong Guan biscuits in Vietnam was around 268 micrograms per kilogram.
Husniah said, BPOM would send the results of its cross-tests to the Vietnamese health authority.
“Earlier, the Vietnam government had said it would change its statement after we have submitted the results of our tests. This is strange, what is going on here,” she added.
The government had also questioned the reasons for the Vietnamese government to examine Indonesian food products for melamime content.
“Because since the beginning of the issue of melamine-contaminted Chinese dairy products, we have made it clear that our domestic food producers do not import dairy products from China. Our products are safe because we import milk from Europe, Australia and New Zealand,” she said.
Similarly, the producer of Khong Guan biscuits was not importing milk from China.
Earlier last week, Director General of Domestic Trade Subagyo said he had received a letter from Vietnam through the Indonesian Embassy in Hanoi saying that Indonesian-made Khong Guan biscuits exported to Vietnam might be contaminated with melamine.
The Trade Ministry then asked BPOM to investigate the case.
The letter from the Vietnamese government was received not long after the issue of melamine-contaminated Chinese dairy products arose.
Last September, milk produced in China was reported to be contaminated with melamine. In China it killed four babies due to kidney failure and caused thousands to be hospitalized.
In Indonesia, six out of 19 Chinese dairy products registered with BPOM had proven to contain melamine.
