TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The National Consumer Protection Agency's (BPKN) advocacy coordinator Rizal E. Halim said that the Food and Drug Control Agency (BPOM) is 'ambiguous' in addressing the sweetened condensed milk issue. The ambiguity, he said may lower public trust.
"The ambiguity of BPOM's attitude related to condensed milk will certainly decrease public trust in BPOM," Rizal said in Depok, Wednesday, July 11.
The UI researcher said that as the authority in charge with regulating and supervising drugs and food, the BPOM should be able to immediately conduct an internal evaluation, seeing how there are so many cases that fall into their laps.
"Moreover, BPOM's press statement related to condensed milk was ambiguous," he said.
Rizal said the discourse whether or not the term 'milk' should be included in the product has actually been discussed several years earlier. Even developed countries, he said, have applied rules regarding the use of the word 'milk'.
"Sweetened condensed milk, judging from its contents, cannot be categorized as milk. This has been explained by nutrition experts from various universities in Indonesia," he said.
Therefore, he asked the government to immediately conduct an audit and examination of the SOP that BPOM runs. He said that there have been too many cases that occurred in recent years due to BPOM's weak supervision system.
ANTARA
