Antara News, Tuesday, January 12, 2010 16:59 WIB
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Some children`s snacks sold at schools and surrounding areas contain hazardous chemical substances such as borax, textile color dyes and formaldehyde, a drug supervision official said.
"We have checked snacks at 4,500 elementary schools. We have not recapitulated the results, but the results are varied, between three percents and 20 percents of the snacks contain hazardous chemical substances," Husniah Rubiana Thamrin Akib, head of the Drug and Food Supervision Agency (BPOM), said here on Tuesday.
Husniah accompanied Health Minister Endah Rahayu Sedyaningsih when inspecting a mobile laboratory supervising snacks at school, at Menteng Dalam 02 elementary school in Jakarta.
Borax or borax acid is antiseptic used for detergent and if is eaten, it could cause digestion problem, diarrhea, and kidney damage, she said.However, borax is often used to make meatball, fresh noddle and crackers.
Formaldehyde is chemical substance usually used for disinfectant and plywood adhesive as well ad disinfectant. However, it is also sometimes used to preserve tofu and fresh noddle. Formaldehyde could cause diarrhe, headache, level, brain and cardiac damages.
Synthetic dyes for textile, Rhodamin B (red) and Methanil Yellow are often used in making sauce, crackers and cakes. It might harm digestive system and lever`s function.
BPOM was trying to deal with the problem by operating mobile laboratories to check snacks being offered at schools, Husnia said.
The mobile`s laboratory operators took samples of the snacks and then briefed school managers and snack traders, she said.
BPOM now has 22 mobile laboratories being operated in six cities, namely Serang, Surabaya, Semarang, Yogyakarta, Bandung and Jakarta.
"The ideal number should be 140 mobile laboratories to serve all provinces, but we don`t have adequate funds," she said.
BPOM jointly with the national education ministry also gave guidance to school`s canteens, including the Menteng Dalam 02 elementary school which was twice visited by BPOM`s mobile laboratory.
The elementary school has assigned a teacher to supervise the school`s canteens, which are not allowed to sell food using synthetic dyes, preservatives, and MSG.
However, outside the school`s yard, there are still some vendors selling colorful beverages, cereals and fried snacks.
Meanwhile, the health minister said her ministry planned to help provide more mobile laboratories for BPOM to check snacks at schools.BPOM could not work alone in that case, therefore it needed to cooperate with the health ministry, she said.
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