Thursday, November 6, 2008

Julie's and Omodo Cream Crackers Banned in Thailand for Melamine

Babynme,Melamine,Julie
It was reported that the Thai Food and Drug Administration has already ordered their stores to remove Julie's cream crackers due to excessive melamine contamination on October 21.

Perfect Food Manufacturing (M) Sdn Bhd's made a press release on the 3rd November that 4 of the Julie's branded biscuits were recalled due to excessive melamine contamination from the Ammonium Bicarbonate (rising agent) sourced from China. The same ingredient was the source of contamination found in Khong Guan and Khian Guan's biscuits earlier.

It was reported today that the Thai authorities have ordered another ban on another biscuit from Perfect Food. The affected biscuit is the Malaysian-made Omodo cream crackers, reportedly containing 6.08ml/kg of melamine whereas the permitted level is only 2.5ml/kg.

It looks like the melamine contamination is not going to go away very soon. I'm sure that the contaminated ammonium bicarbonate sourced from China were also used by many other confectioneries (and some small food manufacturers). Hence, I am certain that there could be more contaminated biscuits out there on the shelves, waiting to be uncovered and reported as `not suitable for human consumption.' However, at the rate this tests are being conducted or waiting for manufacturer's coming forward voluntarily, I guess most would have been consumed by unsuspecting consumers like you and I by then.

Looking back, both Khong Guan and Khian Guan's biscuits were reported as contaminated by ammonium bicarbonate on October 17. Thai authorities were reported to order a removal of Julie's biscuits on October 21. And Perfect Food Manufacturing (M) Sdn Bhd (Julie's manufacturer) made a press announcement on the 3rd Nov. It took a total of 18 days for Perfect Food to make an official announcement after ammonium bicarbonate was reported as contaminated and 13 days after the Thai authorities banned it.

Furthermore, it is interesting to note that all four products would have already expired by the time the press release was made anyway. In other words, there would be no product from this company that are contaminated that would still on the shelves today. So, are they safe to be consumed? Or are we expecting more press releases in the weeks and months ahead as more products reach their expiry dates?


8 comments:

agnes said...

omg.. my gal loves julie's cheese crackers a lot!!! :-( gonna check the expiry date back home later then..

thanks for sharing!!!

Anonymous said...

headache! so many foods got problems.. who can tell me what is safe to eat, especially for our babies..

Blessed mum said...

Hi..thanks for dropping by my blog earlier.

Nice blog you got here..many receipes..all my favourite! You cook?

Are you having another baby too? saw the baby growth chart at your side bar..congrats.

Unknown said...

every once in while, the world over will be shocked by certain bad news,but the tainted food is crisis is the worst,because to the extent it affects almost everybody

sting said...

gosh... there seemed to be no end to it huh? sigh... I wonder what else is contaminated... hmmm

Daddy said...

Hi agnes. I was quite shock too when I read it and did a search in our government's ministry of health website.

I'm also uncertain now Moon. Everything is processed. So I guess breastmilk and everything as natural as it can be.

Hi Blessed Mom. Pleasure all mine. Yes. I'm learning to cook. Nope. Ryan is just 5 months old. The chart is keeping track of Ryan's next birthday. Wife wanted one more but I was nope...definitely for a time being...

Yes Eugene. Like I mentioned in my other posting, this is only the tip of an iceberg. More tainted food out there. Sigh. Must resort back to farming and hunting leh to stay healthy....

No sure Sting but I think lot of things are contaminated without our knowing. I recently stumbled across a list of items from China rejected by the US government. OMG, the reasons for rejection sent shivers down your spine. From being dirty to poisonous. (And this are food items!!!)

Anonymous said...

The news about excessive melamine/ammonium bicarbonate in those biscuits are very disappointed indeed!

Thx for dropping-by my blog. Nice to meet you & your baby!

Daddy said...

Hi Dora. Thanks for visiting and it's totally my pleasure to drop by your blog. Yupe. It's very disturbing and the scariest part is that we will never know what will turn up contaminated next....

More Pictures on Jeju Island Coming up NEXT!