BARELY A DAY AFTER IT RELEASED a partial list of products to be tested for the presence of the industrial chemical melamine, the Bureau of Food and Drugs (BFAD) backtracked and delisted four brands.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque on Saturday also clarified that not all brands in the partial list released on Friday night were covered by the ban on all China-made milk and milk products. He said the banned products were only those with labels stating that these were manufactured in China.

?There should be a qualifier. If a product is on the list, and it is from China, then it is banned in the meantime. If a product is on the list but is not made in China, then it is just for testing and can still be sold and bought,? Duque said.

BFAD Director Leticia Gutierrez said the four brands were removed from the partial list of products to be tested because these were actually manufactured in New Zealand.

These brands are Anchor Lite Milk, Anlene Milk Low Fat, Anmum Materna and Anmum Materna Chocolate, Gutierrez told the Inquirer.

?We are deleting these four brands from the list because they did not come from China. They were manufactured in New Zealand [so] they are not covered by the ban order,? she said.

The BFAD is the only government agency tasked to certify product safety.

Temporary ban

The Department of Health temporarily banned the importation and sale of infant formula and milk products from China following the discovery that melamine had been added to watered-down milk in China.

As many as four children have died and more than 55,000 others have fallen ill after drinking the tainted milk.

According to Duque, the Philippines remains free of contamination and, according to the BFAD, does not import infant formula from China.

Asked how the New Zealand products ended up on the BFAD list of products to be tested for melamine, Gutierrez said it was part of routine inspection.

?Market monitoring is a routine operation even without this melamine incident. These products were among those we have collected for inspection, but we are now just concentrating on milk and milk-based products from China,? she said.

Banned from the market

Gutierrez said that aside from milk and milk products from China, the BFAD would also test other food products with milk ingredients as a precautionary measure, to determine whether these products used contaminated milk from China.

Asked how the partial list that the BFAD had issued should guide consumers, Duque said the listed products which were manufactured in China should be avoided.

He said the other listed products not made in China could still be consumed.

Gutierrez said the China-made products on the list were among those banned and therefore should no longer be sold in the market.

She called on consumers to report to the BFAD stores still selling milk and milk products manufactured in China. (The list of products being tested can be found in the website www.bfad.gov.ph.)

Duque also ordered the BFAD to include in its testing flour imported from China, and to validate reports from China and other countries of the presence of melamine in other products.

Hong Kong has also found melamine in China-made crackers and baby cereals.

Assurance from Nestlé

Melamine poses risks of kidney stones among infants only if tainted milk is consumed for several months at the rate of more than two cups a day, National Epidemiology Center director Enrique Tayag said in an interview with radio station dzMM.

The risk is lower among adults, who will only develop kidney stones from melamine if they drink more than 15 cups of contaminated milk for several months, Tayag said.

In a statement, Nestlé Philippines assured consumers that products manufactured, imported, distributed and marketed by the company were safe for consumption.

It issued the statement in response to reports saying that some Nestlé products?Carnation Calcium Plus Non-Fat, Nestlé Choco-Flavored Ice Cream Cone, Nestlé Vanilla-Flavored Ice Cream Cone, Nespray, Nestlé Dairy Farm Pure Milk, and Klim Instant Full Cream Milk?were being pulled out for melamine testing.

Sandra Puno, Nestlé Philippines director of communications, said the six products were not sold in the Philippines. ?It is possible, however, that these products have been brought to the Philippines by unauthorized importers,? she said.

Nestlé Philippines said it was in full support of the BFAD?s efforts to test various products to determine melamine levels. It expressed confidence that the cited products, if truly from Nestlé, did not contain milk laced with melamine.

Ingredients not from China

The company further said raw materials for its milk products currently manufactured and distributed in the Philippines came from Australia, New Zealand, Europe and the United States.

Locally, it produces milk products under the brand names Nido, Bear Brand, Neslac, Nestogen, Nesvita and Nestlé.

It also imports as finished goods Nan 1 from the Netherlands, Nan 2 and 3 from Switzerland, and Nan HW 1 and 2 from Germany.

?The safety of our consumers is of utmost importance to us, so once again, Nestlé Philippines would like to assure its consumers that all its milk products in the Philippines are safe for consumption,? Puno said.

Pullout

In Muntinlupa City, sanitary inspectors have ordered supermarkets in the Alabang area to take China-made chocolates and candies off their shelves.

?We need the cooperation of all supermarkets in implementing the order. We will continue monitoring stores to prevent the entry of China-made milk and milk products,? said Mayor Aldrin San Pedro.

The city government urged residents to look out for China-made milk products that might have made their way to public markets and supermarkets.

Residents may call these numbers to make their reports: 862-5660/861-2459/862-3965. With reports from Dona Pazzibugan and Julie M. Aurelio