Mizzima News

Despite the Burmese Ministry of Health initiating action against over 100 brands of pickled tea leaves for using banned industrial chemical dyes, it is still apprehensive about it being available in the market. 

The junta banned the products because chemical dyes unfit for consumption was being used but it has been unable to guarantee that the foodstuff is safe for sale again in the market.  

Moreover, given there is no media freedom in Burma, the domestic media has perforce to print whatever the junta says in its publications without asking questions.  

Though the major source of income and livelihood of ethnic highlanders is from tea plantations and consumption of tea is the common custom of the entire nation, it has become obvious that the junta has no concrete and detailed strategy in place to rehabilitate and revamp the tea industry and tea market.  

There are over 200,000 acres of tea plantations in the nation and most of the tea farmers living in the mountainous region rely only on this crop because there is no alternative cash crop.  

As news blackout is a way of life in reclusive Burma, the intensity of loss incurred by farmers and traders cannot be exactly identified. But it certainly would not be a meagre amount. Malaysia and Singapore have banned import of Burmese tea products while domestic consumption has also slumped.  
The market price of tea leaves plummeted to one third of the seasonal normal price and unsold stocks remain high.  

The quality inspection committee set up by the junta is merely a show of the military bureaucratic system. It lacks freedom and transparency.

They do not have adequate skill and proficiency in supervising food and drug tests. And in practice they don't have the authority and responsibility to supervise.

Since the Burmese Food Drug Administration Department can perform only 30 tests a day, it is not enough to cover inspection and testing to be done in the entire country.

Though the junta frequently bans production and distribution of some foodstuff and drugs for using banned chemicals, monitoring whether it is reappearing in the market is very weak.

Mere announcement in daily newspapers is not enough. Though people can know about banned domestic food and drug being sold in the market, it is very hard to distinguish banned foreign drugs in the market.

Moreover the flip flop and inconsistency of the quality inspection committee is an irony in itself. The authorities banned some bottled water brands being distributed in Rangoon as unfit for consumption by people last year. The FDA again issued an 'undo' order the next day which said it was fit for consumption. The people in our country still do not know the reason behind this immediate 'undo' order.

If the regime really intends to ensure safety of the people, mere announcement is not enough. They must expose the root cause and real culprits in production and distribution of these hazardous products and impose deterrent punishment. The junta also needs to provide adequate modern food technology to local food and drug producers to implement their safe product policy.