MANILA, Philippines - The average Filipino uses more ice than the estimated two pounds a day that Americans do. It’s in our pitchers, our tumbler of soda, even in the food section of the supermarket.
The general public still has to be convinced that ice is food and must meet food safety standards. Observes Joy Tamayo, president and CEO of Polytrade Sales and Services Inc., manufacturer of Pure Ice, “People are very concerned with the quality of the water that they drink but not with the safety of the ice they consume.”
She notes that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the US considers ice as food, and in that country its manufacturing and handling follow stringent FDA rules and regulations. Packaged ice in the US “must be produced with properly cleaned and maintained equipment from water that is safe and sanitary, and that it is stored and transported in clean and sanitary conditions.”
Just like food, says Tamayo, ice can spoil. She explains, “Bad ice can actually make you sick. Amoebiasis, stomach viruses, and digestive upsets — these are just some of the illnesses which can be traced back to ice gone bad.”
At home, exercise care in the handling of ice. Wash your hands thoroughly. Use only clean, non-breakable utensils to handle it. Store it in clean food-grade containers. If you’re filling up a cooler with ice, separate the ice that you’ll use for drinks. Pure Ice is the only packaged ice to meet all the safety and manufacturing standards of IPIA and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). Made from purified water, Pure Ice tube ice is packaged in food-grade bags with tamper-proof wire clips.
Pure Ice is available at Rustan’s Supermarkets, Shopwise, Walter Mart, Super 8, South Star, Shell Select, Petron San Miguel Food Avenue and Caltex stations, Baliwag Lechon, and other outlets in its own special freezers with the Pure Ice logo. It is currently being used by the Legend Villas, Manila Yacht Club, Town & Country Hotels, El Cielito Inn, Casino Espanol, Oxford Suites, and Tea 101.
For information, call 429-4880 to 84 or visit www.polytrade.com.ph, www.pureice.com.ph.