BRIEFING ON THE ISSUE OF MELAMINE CONTAMINATED PRODUCTS 29 DECEMBER 2008

BRIEFING ON THE ISSUE OF MELAMINE CONTAMINATED PRODUCTS
                                                         29 DECEMBER 2008

The Embassy of Malaysia through its MITI and MATRADE Offices had conducted a briefing session with Thai representatives at the Embassy as well as by visiting the Thai FDA on 29 December 2008 with the aim of explaining to them the strategies and the corrective measures taken by the Government of Malaysia in handling the issue. The briefing with Thai representatives was done at the Embassy, meanwhile, officials from MITI, MATRADE and MOH visited Thai FDA, also on the same day, to explain the above issue. As a matter of fact, the briefing session in Bangkok was one of the seven in the series conducted by the Government of Malaysia in order to restore confidence among biscuit consumers.

2.         The briefing at the Embassy was done by Pn. Norrani Eksan, Senior Principal Assistant Director, Food Safety and Quality Division of MOH where she was accompanied by Mr. Mohd Iqbal Mohd Noor (Economic Counsellor) and Mr. Jai Shankar Suppayah (Trade Commissioner) of the Embassy. Essentially, it was put across to the audience that the Government of Malaysia assured that no melamine-contaminated products had been produced by Malaysian manufacturers post-October 2008 following the stringent measures taken by the government. Following the corrective measures taken, Malaysian manufacturers had kept themselves away from ammonium bicarbonate imported from China and turned to suppliers from Germany and other European countries.

3.         During the briefing session at the Thai FDA Office, representatives from MITI, MATRADE and MOH seized the opportunity to update Thai Government on the measures taken concerning food safety that were exported to Thailand notably on confectionary products. The Thai side which was led by Dr. Tipvon Parinyasiri, Director of Food Control Division of Thai FDA was pleased with the briefing given and Malaysia sought the kind assistance from Thai FDA in excluding the name of Malaysian products from its website given the corrective measures undertaken as well as the assurance given by the Government of Malaysia itself.

4.         The briefing session with both the Thai FDA and Thai companies proved to be a success and the representatives from the Thai companies were very grateful with the prompt response by the Government of Malaysia, particularly through the officials at the Embassy of Malaysia in Bangkok, in responding to the findings made by the local authority including recalling the tainted products from the market in addition to the reaching out efforts to explain to the industry.

MW Bangkok

30 December 2008