By Mortz C. Ortigoza
With European Union countries’ Ireland, France, Germany, Denmark, Belgium, The Netherlands, Croatia, Greenland, Faeroe Islands, and Malta banning Lucky Me! instant noodles and Pancit Canton manufactured in Thailand because of their poisonous content that gradually kill the consumers, I wonder what has the Food and Drug Administration of the Philippines (formerly the Bureau of Food and Drugs) has been doing on the dried noodles that are the favorite staple of the poor in the country?
The governments of the E.U countries prohibited their people to consume Pancit Canton’s beef noodle soup, original, chili, kalamansi, and chilimansi because they contained ethylene oxide in the food's spice mix.
If
these European countries stopped their people to consume these products,
what has the FDA been doing to stave off the Pinoys from these two noodle
brands?
The food
regulatory body has known to have issues of incompetency with rogue producers
in the past.
I
remembered before about those buko juice commercially distributed all over the
country allegedly mixed with formalin to stay fresh.
I
remembered too those candies and other
food products imported from China that contain formaldehyde.
Formaldehyde
is a chemical used for the production of polymers and other compounds. It is
used to in glues for the manufacturing wood products and embalming solutions.
Formaldehyde is a toxin, allergen and carcinogen, and is restricted or banned
in many countries due to its detrimental effects.
With
the continued sale in the country of these noodle and pancit by Lucky Me!, I pity the great
unwashed in the Philippines who survived their daily struggle in life through
these cheap products as their daily three if not two square meals.
These food stuffs were the favorite survival food among Filipino poor who could not
afford to buy rice during the early months of the pandemic’s lockdown in 2020. Lucky Me! And Pancit Canton products were the
items that quickly disappeared from grocery shelves, forcing the Department of
Trade and Industry to control its purchase.
Ethylene
oxide is a chemical to protect plants and often used as a preservative to keep
products fresh. Several countries allow its use but the European Parliament and
European Commission have banned it since 2020.
The brouhaha in Europe started on June 23 this year when Germany notified the European Commission’s Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) that chemical was found in the “spice mix” from instant noodle which was imported by The Netherlands.
France’s
General Directorate for Food and Malta’s Environmental Health
Directorate said four Lucky Me! noodle variants were found to be
non-compliant with the use of “pesticide” on food.
“Although the consumption of
the contaminated product does not pose an acute risk to health, there may be
health issues if there is continued consumption of ethylene oxide over a long
period of time. Therefore, exposure to this substance needs to be minimized,” the Food Safety
Authority of Ireland said.
Salamabit,
have you read the words above “there may be health issues if there is continued
consumption of ethylene oxide’?
The
Flips in this Flipland have been eating Lucky Me! and Pancit Canton since they
were a child.
They
even coined a joke whenever somebody accomplished something: “Mag pa Canton
ka naman (Treat us with Canton)”.
It is a play of words bordering on the sexual term’s cantot (sex). The unwary Filipinos susmariosep do not have an idea that the Canton being fed to them by the celebrant was already their one-way ticket to hell if they have not signed their one-way ticket to heaven.
MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA
I am a twenty years seasoned Op-Ed Political Writer in various newspapers and Blogger exposing government corruptions, public officials's idiocy and hypocrisies, and analyzing local and international issues. I have a master’s degree in Public Administration and professional government eligibility. I taught for a decade Political Science and Economics in universities in Metro Manila and cities of Urdaneta, Pangasinan and Dagupan. Follow me on Twitter @totoMortz or email me at totomortz@yahoo.com.
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