Ministry clears 22 milk powder brands, awaits reports of 70

Nadira Gunatilleke

COLOMBO: Twenty two samples of milk powder sent abroad to test for Melamine are free of it, a Healthcare and Nutrition Ministry spokesman said.

The spokesman said the Ministry is waiting for reports on another 70 samples sent abroad for testing.

The Ministry will declare the list of brands of milk powder free of Melamine and safe to consume after receiving all reports.

No other authority or a private company can declare that a certain brand of milk powder is free of melamine and safe without the reports of all 92 milk powder samples sent for testing. According to the spokesman, the Ministry has sent 92 samples of milk powder for testing to laboratories in Singapore, India and several other countries at a cost of Rs. 3.32 million.

The Ministry has spent more funds to get other food samples tested for Melamine from foreign laboratories.

Meanwhile, the Ministry is planning to ban importing Baabul, Beeda and Panparag after calling an emergency meeting of the Food Advisory Committee under the direction of Healthcare and Nutrition Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva. Specialist doctors have already confirmed that those food items cause oral cancer in schoolchildren by conducting a lengthy study in an estate hospital.