No melamine: DOH clears 3rd batch of 20 milk products

(Update) MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Health (DOH) on Friday afternoon cleared the third batch of the milk and milk-based products tested by the Bureau of Food and Drugs (BFAD) saying the products were not at all contaminated with melamine. Radio dzBB said that the 20 milk products from China that were subjected under laboratory testing all tested negative for the industrial chemical. The report added that the BFAD still has “less than a hundred" products left to test, the result of which would be released Monday and Friday next week. The DOH also told GMANews.TV in a separate interview that next Friday's batch could be the last if ever the BFAD finishes its testing within next week. The latest list of milk and milk-based products to be found melamine-free includes: - Anchor Wam Froot Milk Drink (Mango Magic) - Anchor Wam Froot Milk Drink (Orange Chill) - Anchor Wam Froot Milk Drink (Strawberry Spin) - Candyman White Rabbit Butter Toffee Candy - Cottage Milk Sweet Cream Butter Milk - Crisp Bean Chocolate - Crisp Chocolate Stone - Dairy America Milk Powder (repacked) - Dairy Kreem Skimmed Milk Powder - Dong Guan Bairong Coconut Biscuits - Farmland Milk Powder - Kiddie Soya Milk Egg Delight - La Crema (Puregold) Skimmed Milk Powder Original - La Crema (Puregold) Skimmed Milk Powder Regular - Magic Chew Grape Fruit Sharing - Milk Drink in Red Can (in Chinese character) - Oakland Skimmed Milk Powder - Showa Tempura Batter Mix Earlier batches Earlier, the Bureau of Food and Drugs found the presence of melamine in three China-made milk brands namely Jolly Cow Slender High Calcium Low Fat Milk, Greenfood Yili Pure Milk, and Mengniu Drink. The BFAD had already cleared 49 milk and milk-based products during the first two installments of their laboratory testing. The company that distributes Jolly Cow had vowed to refund products that had already been sold. The BFAD was quoted in earlier reports as saying they plan on burying underground the shipments of banned milk products from China. Melamine is a plastic material mixed with milk or milk-based products to make their goods appear to have higher protein content. The melamine scare currently sweeping all corners of the world erupted last month when health officials in China reported 54,000 illnesses, including four infant deaths, due to kidney stones and other renal failure resulting from milk tainted with melamine. On Thursday, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo trooped to major supermarkets in Pasay City and found that the banned milk products from China were no longer being sold. Accompanying Mrs Arroyo during the surprise inspection was Department of Trade and Industry Undersecretary Zenaida Maglaya, who reported that the prices of a number of milk and chocolate drink products have gone down between 10 to 20 percent, amid the milk scare. Congress steps in A House inquiry has already been started last Tuesday in connection to the melamine scare. During the hearing, BFAD officials were grilled and made to explain why the food agency only started testing milk products for melamine after news of Chinese babies getting ill broke out. The BFAD said their routine laboratory inspection did not include the detection of melamine because they did not consider melamine as a food ingredient in the first place. The Senate has yet to carry out its own investigation on the food scare but Sen. Edgardo Angara had already urged his colleagues to hold Senate investigations on the melamine scare even if Congress is adjourned. Angara said Thursday that the public must be ensured that no products from China feared to be contaminated with melamine should be allowed to enter the country. Lawmakers from both the Senate and the House of Representatives will reopen their respective sessions in November 10. - Mark Merueñas, GMANews.TV