FDA should emulate EU in setting up early warning system

With consumers in Thailand worried about the impact on health from tainted food products and food safety after the melamine contamination in China, the Foundation's manager, Saree Ongsomwang, said FDA should take advantage of this opportunity to learn from the EU's Rapid Alert System for NonFood Products (RAPEX).

Under this system, she said consumers could access information about dangerous products from web¬sites and help them choose a safe product.

She was speaking at the "Consumer Protection Mechanism for Food Safety Product Conference" held by the foundation on Saturday.

Saree explained that RAPEX is the EU rapid alert system for all dangerous consumer products, with the exception of food, pharmaceutical and medical devices. It allows for the rapid exchange of information between member states via central contact points.

The European Commission details the measures taken to prevent or restrict the marketing or use of products that pose a serious risk to the health and safety of consumers.

Measures ordered by national authorities and measures taken voluntarily by producers and distributors are covered by RAPEX.

When a product is found to be dangerous, the competent national authority takes appropriate action to eliminate the risk.

It can withdraw the product from the market, recall it from consumers or issue warnings to consumers. The National Contact Point then informs the European Commission (direc¬torategeneral for health and con¬sumer protection) about the product, the risks it poses to consumers and the measures taken by the authority to prevent risks and accidents.

The European Commission disseminates the information that it receives to the national contact points of all other EU countries. It publishes weekly overviews of dangerous products and the measures taken to eliminate the risks on the Internet. The national contact point in each EU country ensures that the authorities responsible check whether the newly notified dangerous product is present on the market.

 If so, the authorities then take measures to eliminate the risk, either by requiring that the product be withdrawn from the market, by recalling it from consumers or by issuing warnings. Every Friday, the commission publishes a weekly overview of the dangerous products reported by the national authorities. This weekly overview gives consumers all information on the product, the possible danger and the measures that were taken by the reporting country.

The report will also be released on the website. "This system would not only help consumers to choose the safe product. It also alerts manufacturers to improve their products before their launch into the market," said Saree.

 Meanwhile, FDA's food safety expert, Daranee Mookhachornphan, said FDA is working with public health provincial offices across the country to monitor dangerous food products. The health officer and FDA inspectors will randomly collect the sample of products from shelves for examination.

The report of tainted products will be released to the public every day via its website. Additionally, FDA has conducted the food safety roadmap and distributed to the relevant agencies such as Agriculture and Industry ministry to monitor the food production process. This mechanism will ensure that manufacturers comply with the FDA's foodsafety regulation and their products are safe for consumption before putting them on the shelves.

However, Saree said that based on the Procedural Act for Consumer Protection Cases, consumers who are affected by severe symptoms from taking tainted products could file a law suit against the company involved and seek compensation. But consumers had to make sure that the products they took were from the same lots that were tainted, she added.