SIBU: Supermarket, wet market and grocery shop operators quickly removed chicken frankfurter produced by Ayamas Food Corporation from their shelves yesterday after news broke that the State Veterinary Authority had detected the prohibited antibiotic ‘chloramphenicol’ in a sample of chicken frankfurter during random testing recently.
Some of the operators went one step further by removing all products from Ayamas on their shelves even though Ayamas issued a statement through Bernama yesterday that it did not use chloramphenicol or other banned antibiotics in its products.
The Borneo Post front-paged the shocking discovery yesterday and the Health Department has directed its enforcement personnel to ensure that all Ayamas chicken frankfurter were off the shelves.
Health Department director Datu Dr Zulkifli Jantan confirmed yesterday that all its enforcement officers throughout the state had been mobilised to look into the situation.
“We can take action …but usually we will seal and destroy the items,” he said.
Asked about the possible health effects of consuming ‘chloramphenicol’, he warned that it would have long term effects on bacterial resistance.
When contacted, Ministry of Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism (MDTCC) state director Wan Ahmad Uzir Wan Sulaiman said there was no instruction to go down to the ground thus far.
“We can start taking action against the perpetrators once there is a directive, for example from the Ministry of Health,” said Wan Uzir.
On Saturday, Assistant Minister for Agriculture (Research and Marketing) Datuk Mong Dagang said the tainted sample was from a batch which was imported into the state from Peninsular Malaysia through Bintulu.
The Veterinary Authority in Kuala Lumpur confirmed the detection and the state immediately suspended the import of Ayamas products, while the state Veterinary Authority forwarded a notice of the suspension of importation of Ayamas products to importers on Nov 1.
But Ayamas general manager (Group Corporate Communications) Rosniza Baharum yesterday expressed surprise at the suspension.
“Our routine internal tests also do not reveal any evidence of usage of such antibiotics in the raw materials we use,” she said in the statement.
Nevertheless, she said, Ayamas was taking the matter very seriously and would carry out a thorough investigation into it to resolve the issue which had gone viral on Facebook.
“At Ayamas, we implement the most stringent quality control measures to ensure that only top quality food products leave our plants, and wish to let our customers know that nothing is more important to us than food safety and their health,” she added.
Meanwhile, staff of a supermarket here said they became aware of the tainted food after reading The Borneo Post yesterday.
“We have removed this product in the interest of consumer safety. We will comply with any directive from the authorities for we do not want to land in hot soup,” he said on condition of anonymity.
At another supermarket, its supervisor, who too requested anonymity, said all Ayamas products had been removed from the shelves and would be sent back to Ayamas upon the instruction of his manager.
To prove that he was not lying, he showed an invoice which indicates the items to be returned.
“We do not want to take any risk,” she said.
A senior executive of a departmental store, surnamed Chua, disclosed that he had instructed his staff to remove all Ayamas chicken frankfurter from their shelves.
“We sell other brands too and will return the affected products to the supplier.”
A chicken vendor at Sibu Central Market, Ting Leong Sing, said his business was not affected by the incident.
“People are not shying away as locally produced chicken remained among key dishes at home and restaurants,” said Ting, echoing Mong’s statement that all chicken products produced in the country were safe for consumption, except those from Ayamas.
Read more: http://www.theborneopost.com/2012/11/06/ayamas-chicken-frankfurter-taken-off-shelves/#ixzz2BOREdXMa
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