•    HOME   
•    NEWS   
•    BUSINESS   
•    INTERNATIONAL   
•    TECH   
•    SPORTS   
•    LIFE & TIMES   
•    OPINION   
•    MY JAKARTA   
•    BLOGS   
•    EYEWITNESS   

The Health Ministry said it could not name the formula milk brands supposedly contaminated with dangerous bacteria because it did not know which brands were affected.

“I know people expect us to announce the milk brands alleged to be tainted, but we can’t because we honestly don’t know,” Health Minister Endang Rahayu Sedyaningsih said at a press conference on Thursday.

She was responding to a ruling posted on the Supreme Court’s Web site on Jan. 17 ordering the disclosure of the milk brands alleged to be tainted with the Enterobacter sakazakii bacteria.

The case goes back to a study published in 2008 by the Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB), which found five of 22 formula milk samples tested from 2003 to 2006 to be contaminated.

In certain amounts, the bacteria is known to cause diarrhea and even meningitis in newborn babies.

Consumer advocate lawyer David ML Tobing then filed suit with the Supreme Court to get the Health Ministry and the Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM) to disclose the brands.

Endang said that shortly after the IPB published its research, the ministry had ordered the BPOM to test all infant formula available in the country, but no traces of the bacteria were found.

BPOM head Kustantinah said of 96 milk samples tested in March 2008, 11 in 2009, 99 in 2010 and 18 so far this year, none were found to contain E. sakazakii.

Endang said it was possible the samples tested by IPB had been contaminated through unhygienic storage or improper preparation methods.

While breast-feeding was the safest choice, she reassured mothers that the bacteria would die if heated for at least 15 seconds at 70 degrees Celsius.

Endang also said she could not force IPB to disclose the brands.

“As a prominent and credible university, IPB has full independence in conducting its research.”

Dedy Muhamad Tauhid, head of IPB’s legal office, said the university would not name the brands of bacteria-tainted formula because it had not yet received formal notification of the Supreme Court’s ruling.