FDA to clamp down on sales of uncertified chicken sausage in Arakan State

By DMG 11 Feb 2022

Myanmar’s Food and Drug Administration plans to crack down on unlicensed food products in Arakan State. (Photo: FDA Myanmar)

DMG Newsroom
11 February 2022, Sittwe

Surprise checks will be conducted in Arakan State to prevent the sale of chicken sausages that do not have FDA certification, according to Dr. Naing Naing Lin, assistant director of Arakan State’s Food and Drug Administration.

“We are drawing up plans to carry out surprise checks as the head office in Naypyidaw told us to. In previous months, we did not see sausage that did not receive FDA certification. We will announce if we will see such products this month,” Dr. Naing Naing Lin told DMG.

After some people from Kayin and Shan states who ate sausages illegally imported to Myanmar through the country’s eastern border suffered food poisoning, the FDA Myanmar on February 9 advised the public not to eat foods that do not include FDA certificates, and said it would take action against vendors if they sell such products.

Dr. Naing Naing Lin said that the department would seize foods that are not suitable for consumption if authorities find them during surprise checks, and the offending vendors will be made to sign a pledge not to sell such foods in future.

“People should not eat food that has not received FDA certification. Our department is announcing the foods that people should not eat and educating the people to avoid eating them,” she said.

According to the amended FDA law, food packaging must label the ingredients in Myanmar language, and products that do not follow the relevant regulations are not granted FDA certification.

As is the case in much of the country, various foods that do not include FDA certificates are found in Arakan State, but people consume them despite the lack of certification, said Ma Oo Khin Thein, manager of the Rakhine Youth New Generation Network.

“People do not know well about such food. So, we need to prevent such food from entering the state. And, authorities need to take effective action against the foods that have not received FDA certification,” she said.

According to official reports, some children from Kayin and Shan states were recently hospitalised and deaths were reported from food poisoning after the victims ate chicken sausage that did not have an FDA certificate.