REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- PT Pharos Indonesia's Corporate Communications Director Ida Nurtika has clarified that Viostin DS' raw materials are obtained from cattle provided by Spanish suppliers offering halal assurance from a halal certification agency. "They provide a guarantee in the form of a halal certificate which after we check, the certificate is issued by a recognized institution of the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI)," Nurtika noted at a press conference here on Tuesday.
With a halal certificate from a recognized institution, such as the MUI, PT Pharos Indonesia is confident that the raw material chondroitin sulfate is not derived from pigs. It was not until November 2017 that the Food and Drug Supervisory Agency (BPOM) had conducted a post-market inspection and declared Viostin DS, with a specific distribution number, proven to contain pig DNA.
"We were shocked by this (finding) and immediately coordinated the withdrawal of all Viostin DS products in circulation, including those with different permit numbers from those found containing pig DNA by the BPOM," she revealed.
Also read: Viostin DS, Enzyplex tablets contain pig DNA: BPOM
Hence, Nurtika denied that Viostin DS products contain materials sourced from pigs. She asserted that PT Pharos Indonesia uses raw materials obtained from cows. "After we checked, we believe it does not contain but is polluted (by pig DNA). To offer a sense of security and as a form of our concern to consumers, we are withdrawing all Viostin DS products," she stated.
The BPOM had earlier noted that the production of Viostin DS food supplement by PT Pharos Indonesia and Enzyplex tablets produced of PT Medifarma Laboratories had tested positive for the presence of pig DNA.
Based on information quoted from the official website of BPOM in Jakarta on Tuesday, Viostin DS, which contained pig DNA, has a distribution permit number NIE POM SD.051523771, with BN C6K994H as the batch number, while the Enzyplex tablets' distribution permit is NIE DBL7214704016A1, with 16185101 as the batch number.
The BPOM has instructed PT. Pharos Indonesia and PT Medifarma Laboratories to stop the production and distribution of products carrying that batch number.
Responding to these instructions, PT. Pharos Indonesia has withdrawn all Viostin DS products, with the mentioned NIE and batch numbers, from the market and stopped the manufacturing of Viostin DS products.
Likewise, PT Medifarma Laboratories has also withdrawn all Enzyplex tablet products, with the mentioned NIE and batch number, from the market.
As a precautionary measure and for consumer protection, the BPOM has instructed its centers across Indonesia to continuously monitor and withdraw products that do not meet the requirements, including those detected to contain pig DNA but do not include the "Pigs Container" warning.
The BPOM has routinely monitored the safety, efficacy, benefits, and quality of products through sampling of the circulating products, laboratory testing, and follow-up of the monitored results.
The BPOM had earlier sent a letter to BPOM Palangkaraya on the results of the food supplement reference sample test of Viostin DS and Enzyplex tablets in Mataram. The BPOM has urged the public to not panic.
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