Passage of food safety bill pushed

MANILA, Philippines - Alarmed by cases of salmonella contamination in various food products both here and abroad, Sen. Loren Legarda yesterday said she would push for the immediate passage of a comprehensive bill on food safety to ensure the highest quality of agriculture and food products for both domestic and international consumption.

Legarda, chairman of the Senate committee on agriculture and food, said she would also seek to rationalize the functions of concerned agencies such as the Bureau of Agriculture and Fishery Products Standard (BAFPS) and other regulatory agencies of the Department of Agriculture for a more effective implementation of measures to ensure food safety.

“The suspension orders served by the Department of Health (DOH) to Samuya Food Manufacturing Inc. (SFMI), manufacturer of Yummy sweet and creamy peanut spread and Ludy’s sweet and creamy peanut butter, should serve as a warning to all local food manufacturers,” she said.

Legarda said the DOH penalized SFMI for its failure to comply with the current good manufacturing practices set by the Bureau of Food and Drugs for food manufacturers.

According to reports, laboratory results showed that these Samuya products were contaminated with the deadly salmonella, a kind of bacteria causing typhoid fever.

The DOH said the presence of salmonella depended not only on the quality of raw materials used for the food product but also on the sanitation and hygienic practices of workers in the manufacturing plant.

According to SFMI’s production manager, they imported their peanuts from China and India.

Recently, the US Food and Drug Administration food safety officials warned consumers to stop eating all foods containing pistachios while they figured the source of a possible salmonella contamination.

“In line with this, I urged the BAFPS to formulate and enforce standards of quality in the processing, preservation, packaging, labeling, importation, exportation, distribution, and advertising of agriculture and fisheries products,” Legarda, who also chairs the Congressional Oversight Committee on Agricultural and Fisheries Modernization, said.

The BAFPS was established as mandated under the Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act (AFMA) and was tasked to set and implement standards for fresh, primary-and-secondary processed agricultural and fisheries products, she explained.

The functions of the BAFPS include the conduct of research on product standardization, alignment of local standards with the international standards and regular inspection of processing plants, storage facilities, abattoirs, as well as public and private markets in order to ensure freshness, safety and quality of products.