Food safety | Flood-soaked milk powder supplier under investigation

News of the investigation was revealed to the media on Wednesday by a member of the Administration Committee of the Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau (IACM), Ung Sau Hong, while attending a food safety seminar.

In September, a pharmacy in Taipa was reported to have sold flood-soaked milk powder.

Later, IACM carried out an investigation and reported that the milk powder had been sold in Farmácia Alwen, in Taipa, and confirmed that it had been the pharmacy’s milk powder supplier who was responsible for this.

The milk supplier is a firm called Vang Vai, which happens to be the parent company of Farmácia Alwen.

“We have already confiscated the affected milk powder bottles. […] That batch […] has stopped being sold in the market,” informed Ung, adding that IACM is still investigating the case.

The milk powder supplier, according to Ung, confirmed that the bottles had been soaked by floodwaters. 

However, whether the supplier was aware that the milk powder had been soaked and still decided to supply the shipment to the pharmacy remains unclear, as the investigation is still undergoing.

“Regarding whether they committed crimes, and which crimes they have committed, the investigation is still being carried out, therefore it is inappropriate [for me] to announce results,” said Ung.

A total of 1,500 bottles of milk powder were soaked, all of which have now been destroyed.

The firm, Vang Vai, supplied the batch of milk powder to six of its subsidiary pharmacies, including two located in Taipa and four located in Macau.

When talking about food safety cases that occurred recently, Ung disagreed with allegations that IACM has been lax in its enforcement and policy.

“Actually, I don’t think IACM carried out a lax policy. It might be [because of] human negligence,” said Ung.

The IACM member also remarked that the bureau hopes to raise the public’s food safety awareness through advertisements and seminars organized by IACM.

“Like the [today’s] seminar, we carry out this seminar every year and invite experts in food safety to share their experience on food safety management,” said Ung.

Tuesday marked the first day of Food Safety Week  2017.