BY GERARD NAVAL

THE Bureau of Food Drugs yesterday released a partial list of products that it said it was testing for possible melamine contamination.

BFAD said although these products did not originate from China, their manufacturers might have sourced raw materials from China.

The list of 54 products includes some of the more popular brands such as Snickers, Anlene, Nestlé, M&M and Anchor.

Nestlé, a Swiss company, said in a statement its raw materials are sourced from Europe, Australia, New Zealand and North America. Anchor is a trademark of the New Zealand Dairy Board and all products bearing that name are sourced exclusively from that country.

BFAD said the public should refrain from consuming these products until tests show they are safe for consumption.

"This is just a partial list. These are the products we are testing," said Vriginina Francia Laboy, officer in charge of BFAD’s Policy, Planning and Advocacy.

BFAD did not say when it would release the complete list.

The products are Anchor Lite Milk, Anchor Wam Frootmilk Drink Mango Magic, Anchor Wam Frootmilk Orange Chill, Anchor Wam Frootmilk Strawberry Spin;

Anlene Milk, Anmum Materna 180g, Anmum Materna Chocolate, Dutch Lady Pure Milk, Farmland Skim Milk, Greenfood Yili Pure Milk, Jinwei Drink, Jollycow Pure Fresh Milk, Jollycow Slender Low Fat Milk;

KLIM Instant Full Cream Milk Powder (1.8 kg), M & M Chocolate Brown 40 g, Meiji Hokkaido Azuki (red bean ice cream), Ujikintoki (red bean and green tea frozen confection), Mengniu Original Drink Milk;

Mengniu Pure Milk, Milk Chocolate Bars/China, Milk Chocolate Candies / China, Milk Boy repacked, Monmilk Brakfast Milk Walnut Milk Beverage, Monmilk High Calcium Low Fat Milk, Monmilk High Calcium Milk, Monmilk Deluxe Pure Milk, Monmilk Pure Milk;

Monmilk Suan Suan Ru Sour Milk Beverage (Mango flavor), Natural Choice Milk Ice Bar, Nespray, Nestlé Carnation Calcium Plus

Non Fat Milk Powder (1.6 kg), Nestlé Chocolate Flavor Ice Cream Cone;

Nestlé Dairy Farm Pure Milk, Nestlé Vanilla Flavor Ice Cream Cone, Nutri Express Milk, Nutri Express 15 Nutritional Elements (blue, red, and orange label and cap), Nutri Express Milk Green Apple;

Prime Roast cereals 28gm, Pura Fresh Milk, Snickers Brown 59 gm, Strawberry Sorbet, Trappist Dairy Low Fat Yogurt Drink, Vita Fresh Milk, Wahaha Orange, Wahaha Yellow, Want Want Milk Drink;

Yili High Calcium 250 ml, Yili High Calcium 1l, Yili High Calcium Low fat Milk Beverage, Yili Low Fat Milk 1 l, Yili Milk, Yili Puremilk 250 ml, Yili Puremilk 1 l, and Yinlu Milk Peanut.

Early this week, BFAD imposed a temporary ban on all milk products from China. The ban will be in effect until the agency completes laboratory tests to determine the presence of melamine in the dairy products.

It has also revoked the licenses of importers of China-made milk products.

BFAD is conducting inspections in various stores, markets and groceries to see if there are banned milk products that are still made available to consumers.

The agency is also conducting random testing on all China-made milk products and milk by-products, such as milk chocolates, butter, yogurt and cheese, among others.

Health officials belied reports of a child suffering from kidney stones because of melamine-contaminated milk.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque, National Epidemiology Center chief Dr. Eric Tayag, and National Center for Disease Prevention and Control director Dr. Yolanda Oliveros said there was no such case.

In China, four people have already died while almost 53,000 infants have fallen ill, mostly growing kidney stones, from taking contaminated milk.

Tayag said it would take months for children taking the contaminated to develop kidney stones.

The Federation of Philippine Industries has urged BFAD to also inspect flour imported from China.

FPI president Jesus L. Arranza said since melamine is used to bring up the protein reading of food products, it is not far-fetched that flour coming from China could also be contaminated with melamine.