The government should stop small bakers from using contaminated and potentially toxic flour from Turkey in producing the so-called poor man’s bread, like pan de sal, monay, pan de coco and pan de limon.
The call was made by Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr. who particularly directed it at the trade and health departments as well as the Bureau of Food and Drug (BFAD).
He said the government could be “playing Russian roulette with the health of our people by allowing the importation of Turkish flour.”
Big bread manufacturers in the Philippines are not using the imported flour, but small bakers are using the stuff purportedly available in Divisoria and elsewhere to raise their profit margins, Pimentel said.
“As always, it is the poor Filipinos who suffer, in this case probably not knowing the risk to their health of that bread they are eating,” he said.
“If even in Turkey they have expressed misgivings as to the quality and safety of their flour, more so should we,” Pimentel said. “No one wants to eat cancer-causing bread.”
Darker, coarser, smellier
Breads made from Turkish flour are darker in color, have coarser texture and sometimes have an offensive smell.
A study published by the Journal of Food and Drug, titled “Total Aflatoxin, Aflatoxin B1 and Ochratoxin A Levels in Turkish Wheat Flour,” confirmed that Turkish flour is contaminated with mycotoxins that are known to affect human and animal health.
Mycotoxins generally refer to poisonous chemical compounds produced by certain fungi, some of which are found in food and animal feed such as grains and seeds.
Tests on Turkish flour conducted in 2007 by leading Turkish universities, including Istanbul University, showed that 81 percent of samples of flour taken were contaminated.
Ingesting high levels of the toxin increases one’s chances of developing urethral, renal and pelvic tumors, according to the study, which traced the contamination of the flour to humidity and temperature changes.
The study warned of the risk posed by the contamination to public health.
Pimentel said he found it disturbing that while Turkey exports wheat flour, it also imports flour for the consumption of its own people.
“When one refrains from consuming what one produces, questions are raised,” the senator said. “Why should we eat bread made from flour which its own producer does not want to touch?”
Pimentel said that while Turkey may claim that the levels of mycotoxins in the flour it exported were tolerable, he stressed that Philippine health authorities should not take their word for it.
“At the very least, the Department of Health and BFAD must conduct their own tests. As we all know, people will say anything just to conclude a sale,” he pointed out.
Compounding the health concerns are reports that the commodity has been entering the country through technical smuggling, or the misdeclaration, undervaluation or misclassification of the goods to avoid payment of proper taxes.
“What is being done by the Department of Trade and Industry and the Bureau of Customs about (this), when the same commodity seems to be unwanted in many other countries like Indonesia?” Pimentel asked.
Pimentel cited the complaint raised by the Philippine Association of Flour Millers (Pafmil) that the government may have lost some P20 million in import duties and value-added taxes with the entry of “undervalued” wheat flour from Turkey in 2009 and in the first two months of 2010.
Undervaluation
Roughly 25,000 metric tons of the flour entered the country during the period, according to reports. The shipments were reportedly valued at just $96 per ton instead of the average of $300 per ton.
“What’s dismaying is that the reported undervaluation of the flour imports is said to be happening right at the Port of Manila and the Manila International Container Port, with customs and the Department of Finance doing nothing to stop it,” the senator added.
From 660 MT of Turkish flour imported in 2004, the volume steadily increased to 1,516 MT in 2005, 5,126 MT in 2006, dropped to 1,208 MT in 2007 and then rose sharply to 16,721 MT in 2008.
Pimentel asked authorities to look into Pafmil’s report that of the over 86,000 MT imported in 2009 alone, some 19,000 were undervalued, causing the government to lose around P16.9 million in revenues.
He said another P3 million in uncollected import duties and value-added tax had been lost from the 6,000 MT of the 13,695 MT of flour imports from January to February this year, which allegedly were also undervalued.
In March, Turkish flour arrivals at MIPC and POM totaled 12,100 MT, accounting for 86.4 percent of all imported flour arrivals.
“This is just the tip of the iceberg because technical smuggling of Turkish flour is surely happening also in other ports in the Visayas and Mindanao,” said Pimentel.
Technical smuggling not only robs the government of much-needed revenues but also poses unfair competition to local industries, he stressed.
Aside from Pafmil, the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Philippine Federation of Industries have also called the attention of customs officials to the undervalued imports.
Wheat flour entering the country is slapped a 7-percent import duty and a value-added tax of 12 percent.
In Indonesia, authorities have moved to stop the dumping of Turkish flour into their country by imposing of higher duties.
David Mikael Taclino
Inyu Web Development and Design
Creative Writer
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