The Food and Drug Administration Myanmar (FDA) is back at it again with another solution to its institutional shortcomings that puts the privileges of businesses above the safety of the public.
Eleven reported today that the FDA will issue temporary licenses to food manufacturers while it tests the quality of their products. Shouldn’t licenses be issued after foods are deemed safe for public consumption? According to FDA director Dr. Than Htut, that would take too long.
Dr. Than Htut said: “Food manufacturers have said the inspection process required to get licensed is too time-consuming. This is true; we are very understaffed for the work we have to do. We are doing our best to solve our problems.”
“I urge the manufacturers to come to apply for registration with all the necessary documents. We will be issuing the temporary registrations for manufacturers during the inspection period, and we will take action against unregistered products in the market,” he said.
Normally, in order to get licenses to operate in Yangon, a food manufacturer must have samples of its products lab-tested by the FDA and Yangon City Development Committee. Once it passes this test and has its facilities inspected, the FDA grants a certificate of “Good Manufacturing Practices” that is valid for two years and a certificate of “Good Hygiene Practices” that is valid for one year.
But until the FDA gets the staffing it needs, it will apparently assume manufacturers meet these standards until they prove otherwise.
In a similar move earlier this month, the FDA decided that since some drinking water brands could not get the bacterial content of their products to fall below 100 colonies per milliliter, the regulatory agency would simply relax its standards to approve drinking water with up to 500 bacterial colonies per milliliter.
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