Mixed verdicts for cookies follow FDA melamine checks

"Julie's" brand cookies are sold in a 150gram foil package. FDA secretarygeneral Dr Pipat Yingseree said yesterday that after they were found to be highly melaminecontaminated, FDA alerted the Narathiwatbased importer, the provincial health offices and retailers to pull them off shelves until a detailed test result confirmed their safety. The FDA also collected samples of seven other types of cookie under the brand for lab tests, he said.

Pipat also commented on the recent seizure of 3.75 tonnes of milk powder in Bangkok's Min Buri district to trace the milk powder's origin. He said the FDA feared  the origin might have been incorrectly declared amidst the Chinese melamine scandal. He said when documentary evidence later revealed  it was imported from Australia and New Zealand to make ice cream, FDA withdrew its seizure order.

Pipat said that nearly all of some 800 food samples submitted to the Medical Science Department were found to have no melamine contamination, except the S&P brand's almond cookies that had only 0.75 milligrams per kilogram of melamine. This did not exceed the allowed standard of 2.5 milligrams per kilogram, he added.

People can check the melamine test result on food products at http://www.fda.moph.go.th