By Macon Ramos Araneta
The Manila Standard TodayTHE government should quickly ban Chinese food products using industrial chemicals to protect the public, officials said yesterday.
Antique Rep. Exequiel Javier and neophyte Bohol Rep. Adam Resol Jala said they had asked the health and trade departments and the Bureau of Food and Drugs to ban the food products of Chinese companies shut down by their government for using formaldehyde or formalin.
The bureau is now testing Chinese food products in the local market to determine if these contain formalin, but the officials said more testing must be done and for a longer period to protect the public.
Javier, chairman of the House committee on economic affairs in the 13th Congress, said government agencies should first publish the list of affected products to warn consumers, adding this was necessary in light of China’s failure to reveal the 180 factories closed for manufacturing food products containing industrial chemicals.
“We should do something to protect the public from unsafe Chinese products that are still in the market,†Javier said.
Jala said the Philippines should ask the Chinese government to clamp down on companies manufacturing unsafe food and to ensure that their products were not exported.
“We can’t sacrifice public health. We cannot allow our country to be a dumping ground for unsafe imported products,†he said.
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