The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) will do its own inquiry on the alleged pork contamination of some Halal processed goods sold by CDO Foodsphere Inc., according to DTI Undersecretary Ruth Castelo.
Castelo said CDO has sought the help of the DTI in resolving the matter but she did not elaborate.
The issue stemmed from the issuance on March 10 of the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF) of an advisory to the Muslim community to be cautious after the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) released results of the laboratory tests conducted on coded blind samples.
The NCMF said five of 51 products labelled Halal were found to be contaminated with pork or its derivatives in CDO Chicken Franks, Holiday Chicken Hotdog, CDO Ulam Burger, CDO Crispy Chicken Burger and CDO Chicken Flakes.
The NCMF said the Halal certifier of the products is not accredited by the Commission.
CDO in a social media post on March 15 said it remains “committed to our vision of being the most trusted food company and work towards resolving this matter with utmost priority.”
CDO also assured its products are Halal or lawful for consumption by any Muslim in any part of the world “with the appropriate certification documents by the Ulama Conference of the Philippines.
This was a day ahead of the conduct of a separate, third-party evaluation by the Alliance for Halal Integrity in the Philippines (AHIP) where Ulama is a part of.
In an interview, Potre Diampuan, AHIP chief executive officer, said samples were taken on raw materials and on the processing line of CDO’s facility in Batangas. The results have yet to be released. – Irma Isip
