MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines' Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has advised the public to buy soy sauce registered with the FDA, in original sealed packaging and properly labeled, to ensure its safety.
FDA deputy administrator and spokesperson Ronald de Veyra says consumers' habit of buying "tingi-tingi" (in small packets) from the wet market or cheap imported soy sauce not registered with their agency is not safe.
He says this is because the customer doesn't know the source of the product, its ingredients/contents, and what manufacturing process was followed in its production.
The FDA issued this advisory as international research studies showed that 3MCPD (3-Monochloropropane-1, 2-diol), a by product of soy sauce manufacturing, can cause cancer in animals.
The Philippines' FDA, as well as the US FDA, adopted as a standard the allowable maximum limit for 3MCPD as 1 parts per million (ppm).
All registered local and imported soy sauce products have conformed with this requirement.
In fact, the usual level of soy sauce products registered with the Philippines is only 0.16ppm of 3-MCPD, and an individual has to ingest 1liter of soy sauce daily for several years before he will be at risk of developing cancer.
The FDA says there's no need to pull out soy sauce products in the supermarket because most of them are FDA registered and therefore, they are safe.
However, the FDA says it will be monitoring supermarkets for foreign soy sauce which aren't FDA registered.
The FDA admits, smuggled goods are still able to penetrate the market.
The FDA will be coordinating with Bureau of Customs to make sure all products in supermarkets are registered.
It will also coordinate with the local government unit (LGU) for a campaign against buying soy sauce "tingi-tingi."
