Oils and 'unhealthy foods' are in the news. Why is the food and drug administration not mentioned in either of these two articles? http://www.fdamyanmar.gov.mm/index.php/en/

BTW, peanut, sunflower, and sesame oil are healthy diet choices. Palm oil is not.

Jamie

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Myanmar takes aim at fake cooking oil
Myanmar Times / Bangkok Post
25 Feb 2017 at 15:32

Certain brands of peanut oil and sesame oil sold in Myanmar have been found to contain mixtures of different types of oils.

The Myanmar government will take legal action against those found to be selling fake cooking oil from March, says Kyaw Win, Union Minister for Planning and Finance.

“Don’t sell cooking oils that are labelled '100% pure peanut oil' but are mixed with other oils. Don’t lie to the public," he said. “If they are mixed oils, producers have to label how much of the percentage is mixed.

“[Deceptive labelling] is dishonest. It is the government’s duty to ensure the public are safe so we will deal with this issue as quickly as possible."

The minister said the government would approach the crackdown on adulterated products in a way that is fair for both producers and consumers, The Myanmar Times reported.

“There is no problem if mixed cooking oils are officially labelled," said Khin Soe, chairman of the Myanmar Oil Millers Association. "But we can’t accept it when fake peanut and sesame oils are made using cooking oils and other unidentified oils plus artificial fragrance.

“We demand that the minister take tougher action against these traders of fake oil, and he told us he would do so from March."

In the local cooking oil market, certain brands of peanut oil and sesame oil have been found to actually contain a mixture of different types of oils. However, their labels claim the contents to be 100% pure, said an oil trader.

The products can be mixed with peanut oil, palm oil or sunflower oil but must be labelled accordingly, he added.

Khin Soe said there were also many different brands of cooking oil being sold in the market, and some were believed to have been imported illegally. He urged the government to conduct stricter border checks to stem the supply of these products.

Kyaw Win said illegally imported oils posed a potential health hazard, as the government is not able to provide a food safety guarantee on these products. He urged the public to refrain from purchasing imported brands of cooking oils if the source is unknown.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/asean/1204740/myanmar-takes-aim-at-fake-cooking-oil?utm_content=buffer28680&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer#.WLIg9xK7_nQ.buffer

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MPs to combat unhealthy foods
Eleven
Nyein Zaw Lin, Myo Min Htet
on Fri, 02/03/2017 - 16:16

The Lower House on Thursday passed a proposal to combat unhealthy foods in schools across the country.

MP A Zin Latt of Shwebo Township demanded on December 9 an operation to protect pupils from unhealthy snacks and foods that contained chemical dyes.

He said that the school health and nutrition was important for the population as a whole and it could give many benefits for a little effort.

A decent diet plan for the development of the children should be a priority and in the meantime until the government could establish an effective school diet plan it should force snack shops to sell healthy foods, the MP suggested.

Fifteen MPs discussed the proposal in support on Thursday.

MP Myint Oo of Thanapin Township said: “Using prohibited chemicals to complement the taste and flavour and stretch the shelf life of foods is common these days. It can cause a serious health hazard.”

There had been reported uses of formalin to preserve noodles, plastics to make fries crispier, dye to make tea look appealing, soap powder to prevent oil from becoming congealed, melamine in milk powder, pesticides in vegetables, chemical fertiliser in fish paste and dried fish and sulphuric acid in ketchup, according to Myint Oo.

The proposal was approved without exception.

Dr Myint Htwe, minister for health and sports, said that he would try his best to follow the decision of Parliament.

Translated by Nay Thiha

http://www.elevenmyanmar.com/local/7699