The Health Ministry will conduct thorough analysis on all Cadbury Confectionery Malaysia Sdn Bhd (Cadbury) products soon to ensure that they are not contaminated by pig DNA (porcine).

This follows the detection of porcine in the samples of Cadbury Dairy Milk Hazelnut and Cadbury Dairy Milk Roast Almond in the recent analysis done by the ministry.

Health Minister Dr S Subramaniam said the results of the analysis, however, would only be known in the next several months because they would have to undergo several processes and procedures before the results could be finalised.

"At present, the ministry is investigating Cadbury under the Food Act 1983 and Food Regulations 1985 to ascertain whether Cadbury had with or without intention put the pig DNA in their dairy milk chocolate products," Subramaniam told a press conference in Putrajaya today.

Subramaniam also did not dismiss the possibility that the pig DNA found in the two samples was due to contamination along the production chain.

Meanwhile, Domestic Trade, Cooperative and Consumerism (KPDNKK) enforcement director Mohd Roslan Mahayuddin said operators of premises found to have insisted in selling the two Cadbury products, which had been recalled two days ago, would face a fine of up to RM100,000 or three years' jail, or both, if convicted.

Mohd Roslan said the sentences were provided under the Trade Descriptions Act 2011 and the operators of the premises could also be the retailers, distributors or manufacturers.

"We have also delegated the power to 212 Malaysian Islamic Development Department (Jakim) and state Islamic religious departments' officers nationwide to carry out the enforcement operation," he said.

Earlier, Malaysian Islamic Development Department director-general Othman Mustapha said the official decision on the halal status of Cadbury chocolates will be announced within the next seven days, pending results of the analysis by the Chemistry Department.

Othman said the matter was discussed and agreed to by the Health Ministry; Domestic Trade, Cooperative and Consumerism Ministry; Chemistry Department and the Department of Standards Malaysia at a special meeting with Jakim in Putrajaya today.

Lab competent in food analysis

 

“The Chemistry Department’s laboratory is the official laboratory used by Jakim and  state Islamic religious departments in matters concerning halal certification as stipulated in the Malaysian Halal Certification Procedures Manual,” he said in a statement issued after the meeting.

Othman said the laboratory had also been gazetted as a food laboratory competent in carrying out food analysis, and was accredited by the Department of Standards Malaysia under the Malaysian Laboratory Accreditation Scheme based on Standard MS ISO/IEC 17025: 2005 for DNA testing, including in highly processed food.

The two samples of Cadbury chocolate products found to be contaminated with pig DNA are the Cadbury Dairy Milk Hazelnut (with batch number 200813 M01H I2 that expires on Nov 13, 2014) and Cadbury Dairy Milk Roast Almond (with batch number 221013 N01R I1 that expires on Jan 15, 2015).

Othman said the meeting also decided that the Health Ministry should submit an official report on the matter to Jakim to complete the investigation findings.

He said Jakim had also deployed its monitoring and halal enforcement team to run a check on the whole production chain of the company, including in terms of ingredients, processing flow, storage, equipment and utensils, as part of the investigation.

“So, all quarters are advised not to be hasty in taking action, but to leave it to the authorities to decide,” he said.

- Bernama