I believe that if the people are educated, maintain a high demand, and are very picky, then the quality of products supplied will continue to improve.
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The National Agency of Drug and Food Control (BPOM) has intensified the monitoring of processed food during Christmas 2021 and New Year 2022 across Indonesia, BPOM's Head, Penny K. Lukito, stated.

At a press conference here on Friday, Lukito highlighted that the efforts were stepped up to complement the routine monitoring conducted on the distribution of processed food that failed to meet the requirement.

Monitoring is conducted in five stages from December 1, 2021, to January 7, 2022, and it targets the distribution chain comprising food importers, distributors, wholesalers, and retailers across Indonesia.

The agency had examined 1,975 entities in the distribution chain and found 32 percent of them, or 631, did not fulfill the criteria or had food that failed to meet the requirement, she noted.

A total of 41,306 products did not meet the requirement, with 53 percent of them having expired, 31.3 percent not having a distribution permit, and 15.7 percent in wrecked condition.

"We most frequently found expired food at certain locations in Indonesia," Lukito explained.

The highest number of expired food were found at 13 locations, with most of them identified by the POM Center in five regions.

These regions are Ambon (Maluku), Gorontalo, Pangkalpinang (Bangka Belitung), Manokwari (West Papua) and Sangihe (North Sulawesi).

However, the BPOM head highlighted that the number of entities in the distribution chain and products that did not meet the requirement had decreased as compared to that during the corresponding period of the previous year.

In 2020, some 83,687 products failing to meet the criteria were found as compared to 41,306 in 2021.

"I think that this is the result of the information disseminated by BPOM across Indonesia," she affirmed.

"I believe that if the people are educated, maintain a high demand, and are very picky, then the quality of products supplied will continue to improve," she affirmed.

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Translator: Prisca Triferna Fadhli Ruhman
Editor: Sri Haryati
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