This follows recent reports of the possible contamination of products including infant formula and the white rabbit sweets and biscuits with melamine.
The department has issued a directive on Thursday, 25 September, requesting that Environmental Health Practitioners in the country's various municipalities and metros detain any milk products of Chinese origin.
Department spokesperson, Fidel Hadebe said the verification of such contamination can be done by looking at the ingredient label for any indication of words such as milk, dairy, whey, lactose and casein.
“The information received from the metros and municipalities will enable the department to assess and coordinate sampling requirements of products detained in order to prevent the laboratories from being flooded with samples of products,” Hadebe said.
He said the Consumer Goods Council and the Dairy Standards Agency have also been informed of this matter and were requested to inform their members to test suspected products for melamine before making them available for distribution.
The department has verified with the Department of Agriculture that no permits for primary dairy products were issued for Chinese imports since 2005.
However, this does not include processed products with dairy products.
“As far as the legislation stands, melamine is not allowed into food products and therefore no levels of melamine are permitted.
“Testing of suspected contaminated products therefore will be on presence or absence rather than levels,” he said.
The department said it appreciates the seriousness with which the Consumer Goods Council of South Africa had responded to the matter.
It is only through such collaboration that the health and well-being of South Africa's citizens including its children can be protected from harmful products that may be brought into the country illegally, Hadebe said.
The department further appealed to parents to be extra-vigilant regarding the products that children are exposed to.
Speaking to BuaNews on Friday, Manager of Food Safety Initiative at Consumer Goods Council of South Africa, Dr Lucia Anelich said an alert had been sent to all it members to test and make sure that all the products were safe before making them available for distribution.
“Everything is in control and the industry is aware of it, if anything is found to be contaminated, necessary precaution would be taken,” Dr Anelich told BuaNews.
Article published courtesy of BuaNews
