MANILA – The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has received "expired" tuna samples coming from the Department of Social Work and Development (DSWD) and started its laboratory analysis of the canned food item, the Department of Health confirmed on Tuesday.
This, after some beneficiaries of the DSWD's family food packages in Oriental Mindoro complained about the taste and quality of the canned tuna.
"Canned tunas of the same batch that were then consumed by the residents who complained, have been sent to the FDA for laboratory analysis," Department of Health officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said in a media briefing.
Commercially-approved canned goods do not have a similar shelf life, she said.
"We can only say that once these canned goods are approved by the FDA, it means it has undergone the commercial sterility taste that makes the product shelf stable, meaning, these products at room temperature can withstand these temperature incursions at hindi po siya basta basta mapapanis (and it won't get spoiled easily)," she added.
Earlier, DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchalian said the FDA will serve as the “third party that will determine whether the canned tuna is safe for the consumption of DSWD beneficiaries.”
Vergeire emphasized that the products purchased by the government are FDA-registered and have undergone the commercial sterility test.
"Ngayon po tine-test lang natin 'yung mga pinadalang sample para makita naten kung ano man po talaga ang naging deperensya at ano po talaga ang narereklamo ng ating mga kababayan (Now, we're testing the current samples to see the problem and what our fellow citizens are complaining about) in terms of these canned goods that were provided to them," she said. (PNA)
