TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
No tainted romaine lettuce in Indonesia, ministry assures
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
The Agriculture Ministry has guaranteed the public that Indonesia is free from E-Coli-tainted romaine lettuce, which was recently discovered in the United States.
(Getty Images via Bloomberg/Justine Sullivan)
T
he Agriculture Ministry has guaranteed the public that Indonesia is free from E-Coli-tainted romaine lettuce, which was recently discovered in the United States.
Banun Harpini, head of the Agriculture Ministry’s Quarantine Agency, said in Jakarta on Friday that the tainted lettuce had not entered the Indonesian market.
“I have instructed the Quarantine Agency to strengthen its supervision to assure that the commodity won’t enter Indonesia. If the commodity enters Indonesia, we have to reject it,” said Banun as reported by tribunnews.com.
According to USA Today, the US Food and Drug Agency was investigating an E-Coli outbreak that has affected 32 people in 11 states. The news comes months after an unrelated E-Coli outbreak connected to romaine lettuce.
Banum said Indonesia did not import romaine lettuce from the US and Canada, but exported the vegetable to Singapore and Malaysia.
Nevertheless, he said the Quarantine Agency would remain alert for the possible entry of the commodity, particularly through Indonesians who were returning home from the US and Canada and had taken romaine lettuce with them. (bbn)
