T

he Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM) found that 13 percent of takjil (snacks consumed when Muslims break the fast) contain hazardous chemical substances, including formalin, borax and Rhodamine-B '€” a chemical dye usually used in textile production.

During the first three weeks of this year'€™s fasting month, the agency stepped up its monitoring operation and tested 2,256 takjil samples sold at traditional markets, supermarkets and other food vendors.

'€œDuring Ramadhan and approaching Idul Fitri, the demand for food, both for gifts and takjil, is increasing. Therefore, we need to step up our efforts to ensure the safety of consumers,'€ interim BPOM chairperson Hayati Amal said on Thursday.

From 2,256 samples '€” which included meat balls (bakso), banana in coconut milk (kolak), black sticky rice porridge (bubur ketan hitam), cold beverages and jellies '€” 1,959 samples or 86.8 percent complied with the agency'€™s food safety standards, but the rest were found to contain hazardous chemical substances.

'€œThis problem has apparently occurred every Ramadhan for the past few years,'€ BPOM deputy chairman Roy Sparringa told reporters on Thursday.

He said the agency would continue to crack down on tainted foods.

'€œBPOM has conducted several activities to curb the distribution of these hazardous items by supervising and giving guidance to food vendors in collaboration with the local administrations,'€ he continued.

Roy said that the percentage of tainted takjil had steadily declined over the last three years.

The figure was 18 percent last year, down from 21 percent in 2011.

Roy said the agency would focus its operation in major traditional markets in Palmerah, West Jakarta; Bendungan Hilir, Central Jakarta; and Rawamangun, East Jakarta.

Roy said the food that contained hazardous substances were snacks, with 40 percent of the samples deemed not edible; followed by crackers (17 percent); cold beverages (12 percent); noodles (12 percent); and side dishes (9 percent).

Data from the agency also showed that the country saw an increasing amount of unsafe processed food products, including food distributed without permits and expired products '€” worth a total Rp 6.875 billion (US$669,000) during this year'€™s fasting month. Last year, the total value was only
Rp 3.3 billion.

'€œThese unsafe food items were mostly found in remote areas far from food production and distribution centers,'€ Roy said, citing that border areas including Batam, Pekanbaru, Aceh and Pontianak were prone to the distribution of the food products smuggled from other countries. Meanwhile, expired food products were mostly found in Aceh, Jayapura and Kupang.

The agency found 171,887 food products that did not meet its food safety standards.

Most of the illegal food products came from Malaysia (27 percent), followed by Thailand (22 percent) and Singapore (11 percent), data from the agency showed.