[Philippines] BFAD recalls Gerber products

[Philippines] BFAD recalls Gerber products

Source of Article: [url="http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/FlashNewsStory.aspx?FlashOID=17657"]http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/FlashNewsStory.aspx?FlashOID=17657[/url]

June 3, 2004

The Bureau of Food and Drugs (BFAD) Wednesday announced the recall of Gerber baby food nationwide after receiving an email from a man that claimed he laced with a toxic chemical some 25 bottles of the unspecified Gerber product.

BFAD Regional Division Chief Joyce Sirunay told dzMM the email came from a certain Mateu Orfila, apparently an alias. The email sender took the name of an 18th century toxicologist and chemist from Paris.

Sirunay said Gerber distributor Novartis informed BFAD and the Department of Trade and Industry that the contaminated products were to have found their way to Quezon City supermarkets by June 1 as purported in the email.

The email's author said he mixed the toxic chemical with the products after acquiring the substance in pure white powder from a company in Bulacan.

The email read: "Twenty-five bottles of Gerber baby food were mixed with a substance in quantities that could kill an average-size Filipino. Imagine what it could do to a six-month old baby... After which it's only a matter of time before a baby born to an upper middle class family will die of arsenic poisoning."
Radio dzMM