"We routinely conduct supervision, but during certain periods, such as Christmas and New Year, BPOM carries out an intensification of supervision. This is very important to ensure that the community is healthy," BPOM's deputy for processed food supervision, Rita Endang, said at an online discussion here on Wednesday.
During the Christmas and New Year holidays, BPOM intensified food supervision simultaneously across Indonesia. The supervision was carried out in five stages from December 1, 2023, to January 3, 2024.
It prioritized processed food products without distribution permits, expired foods, and foods with damaged packaging such as dented and rusty cans.
BPOM also monitored food circulation facilities and stakeholders such as importers, distributors, stores, wholesalers, supermarkets, hypermarkets, traditional markets, food parcel makers, and offline and online sellers.
In the inspection, BPOM informed, 70 percent of food circulation facilities in 34 provinces in Indonesia got good results. However, 29 percent of the facilities did not meet the requirements, Endang said.
The BPOM found that 52 percent of 86 thousand packaged foods had no distribution permit, 41 percent were expired, and the rest were damaged, she informed.
BPOM's deputy for enforcement, Rizkal, informed that the agency removed products that did not meet the requirements at the time of supervision.
His side also imposed sanctions on business actors who did not comply with the provisions.
"We immediately took off the products that did not meet the requirements from the shelves and warned (business actors) not to circulate them," he said.
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Translator: Lifia P, Kenzu
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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