Studies Show Children’s Snacks are Dangerous
Wednesday, 20 August, 2008 | 19:11 WIB

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta: A Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM) survey conducted at 4.500 schools in Indonesia during 2007 concluded that 45 percent of street snacks consumed by children are dangerous. “The main danger is from physical, microbiological and chemical contamination,” said Food and Dangerous Substance Safety Supervision deputy-chief, Dedi Fardiaz at the launch of the Pompi campaign in Jakarta yesterday. The snacks consist of whole meals, munchies, and drinks.


Based on BPOM’s findings, most cases of food poisoning happen at home (62,57 percent), while 15,64 percent of cases happen at schools, 8,94 percent happen at dormitories, 8,38 percent at offices or factories, 1,68 percent at hotels and restaurants, 1,68 percent at supermarkets or traditional markets, and 1,12 percent at hospitals.


Most of the snacks inspected are not registered at the BPOM and come from home-made industries. According to Dedi, the BPOM focuses on supervising food and non-food ingredients such as formalin and colouring. These two are in the microbiological and chemical contamination categories.


To anticipate the spread of dangerous foods, the BPOM is launching the ‘Pompi Adventures’ program. This program has been tested at 10 schools in Jakarta and is targeted to be tested at 30 schools next year. Their main focus is elementary school students because they buy snacks every day. “With just a little explanation, the students can present the Pompi doll for 30 minutes,” said Food Safety Surveillance and Training director, Aziza Nuraini Prabowo.


“We were amazed by it,” she said, adding that knowing which food is safe to be consumed can reduce the risks of food poisoning.

Dianing Sari