40% Snacks Contain Hazardous Substances

VIVAnews - Jogjakarta Food and Drugs Supervision Center (BBPOM) discovered at least 40 percent snacks sold at schools and vendors containing saccharin and cyclamate.

“Based on our research, we found that 40 percent of snacks sold at schools containing saccharin and cyclamate which are very hazardous if consumed regularly,” Jogjakarta City Health Agency’s Head of Health and Human Resources Regulation and Management, Tuti Setyowati said on Wednesday, January 13.

Following the findings, vendors all over Jogjakarta, both who operate at schools and on the streets, will be expelled. In the future, traders and vendors in the city will have to be certified.

“This is an attempt to encourage the vendors to live clean. Therefore, they would also sell healthy food and beverages,” Setyowati said.

To implement the certification requirement, the Health Agency will team up with the Education Agency, Industry, Trade and Coop Agency, the Public Order Agency, and the BBPOM.

The certification system aims to create clean living among the traders when it comes to choosing basic materials, storing the goods and processing the food.

“We expect the traders to cover themselves while serving the customers. We’ll try to provide the covers by proposing the program to the Industry, Trade and Coop Agency” Setyowati said.

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Translated by: Nataya Ermanti