FDA prepares to test Fonterra products in PHL market

(Updated 4:05 p.m., 18 August 2013) The Philippine Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is now waiting for the materials to test Fonterra products sold in the local market, among them the brands Anchor, Anlene, Anmum, Mainland, and Perfect Italiano.

 

“Hinihintay pa po namin ang culture media and reagents na gagamitin sa testing,” FDA Laboratory supervisor Almueda David told GMA News online over the phone Thursday.

 

Samples will be collected from the market which will be tested for “monitoring and surveillance activities,” according to an advisory on the FDA website. 

 

FDA confirmed in the same advisory that the Fonterra brands now in the Philippines do not include the whey protein concentrate (WPC80) batches from New Zealand that were found contaminated with Clostridium botulinum, a toxin-producing bacteria that could poison when consumed but not properly digested. But it would test the products nonetheless. 

 

The date of product testing is yet to be set, said David.

 

Fonterra, the biggest exporter of dairy products in the world, is currently under fire for reports of product contamination, after three batches of WPC80 were reported to be contaminated with Clostridium botulinum.

Fonterra Philippines clarified in an email interview that this was an isolated incident and that all other products or ingredients are safe for consumption.

“The three batches of affected WPC80 were produced at a single, specialized manufacturing site in New Zealand in May 2012. Products from this site are not used in any Fonterra consumer branded products sold in the Philippines,” it said.

 

China, Sri Lanka, and Hong Kong, among other countries, recalled Fonterra products from their respective markets. 

 

According to the FDA, victims may experience symptoms such as double vision, drooping eyelids, slurred speech, difficulty in swallowing, and muscle weakness. It could also lead to death often due to respiratory failure, it added.

 

Fonterra Philippines announced in an August 8 statement that their products do not include the batch of WPC80 from New Zealand that was found contaminated. — VS/BM, GMA News