“We haven’t detected any contamination,” said Elin Herlina, Deputy for Processed Food Supervision at BPOM, during a media briefing in Jakarta on Wednesday.
To safeguard public health, BPOM routinely conducts sampling and testing for safety and quality across products circulating in the local market.
The agency is also working with the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) to enhance detection capabilities for radioactive substances.
Plans are underway to expand laboratory coverage to accelerate testing.
“This will give us more options to speed up the testing process,” Herlina added.
The briefing comes amid growing concerns over Cs-137 contamination in Indonesian exports.
According to Bara Krishna Hasibuan, Head of Diplomacy and Communications for the Cs-137 Radiation Task Force, the government is actively working to contain the spread of radioactive contamination.
In addition to shrimp and cloves, footwear exported to the United States and the Netherlands has also tested positive for Cs-137.
Although the contamination was only officially confirmed after meetings with U.S. authorities, Bara noted that the incidents occurred around the same timeframe.
Importantly, the contamination was not linked to the manufacturing practices of shrimp producer PT BMS or footwear company PT NM.
“This was purely accidental,” Bara explained. “The Cs-137 was airborne, originating from a facility owned by PT PMT.”
The Ministry of Industry has completed decontamination of 22 production facilities in the Modern Cikande Industrial Estate (MCIE), Banten, while seven additional sites remain under cleanup.
These efforts are being coordinated by the Cs-137 Radiation Task Force in collaboration with the Nuclear Energy Regulatory Agency (Bapeten).
Before the U.S. FDA issued its import alert on Indonesian shrimp, Dutch customs had already reported radionuclide contamination in sneakers. Radiation experts from the Netherlands’ ANVS confirmed that exposure levels reached up to 110 nanoSieverts per hour—significantly higher than the normal background level of 20 nanoSieverts—due to Cs-137 presence.
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Translator: Putu Indah Savitri, Aditya Eko Sigit Wicaksono
Editor: M Razi Rahman
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