SIBU: A local company manufacturing bottled drinking water is investigating how the official and confidential government letter on their batch of products for June 22, 2016 not conforming to the specified chloroform parameters has been leaked out into the social media, which has gone viral.
The company’s spokesperson, who requested anonymity, disclosed yesterday that they will be pursuing legal action on the individual(s) responsible for exposing the discreet information.
However, she said they believed this was a rumour created to tarnish their reputation.
“We only found out yesterday (Wednesday) that the letter had been leaked out and circulated in the social media, which has affected both our company’s reputation and sales. We are puzzled as to how such confidential information can be leaked out.
“While our side is carrying out our own investigation, we were made to understand that the Ministry of Health (MOH) too is investigating the matter. “We are in the process of coming up with the legal action as our investigation is still underway,” she told The Borneo Post and See Hua Daily News reporters when met at the company’s office.
Asked about the letter, she explained that after the test results were out, they promptly took the necessary corrective actions, among them recalling that particular batch of bottled drinking water.
She said they did not have any more stock of that batch as they had all been sold.
On the usual measures taken, she said they carried out an in-house test besides doing maintenance to the necessary equipment including filters.
She further revealed that the ministry had carried out another re-sampling on Sept 13 and the company was still awaiting the outcome.
To allay public concern, she assured that the company always takes steps to ensure that their products are safe for consumption and it is their standard procedure to ensure all the necessary steps to filter their products have been taken.
She also said they carry out in-house analysis from time to time besides sending samples to MOH for analysis on a yearly basis.
Meanwhile, state Health Department director Dr Jamilah Hashim, when contacted, said she had asked her deputy in charge of food safety and quality to investigate the incident.
“I will wait for the full report from my deputy-in-charge.”
Attempts to contact the state Health Department’s deputy director in charge of food safety and quality for clarification were futile as he could not be reached.
What is chloroform?
ACCORDING to Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), Chloroform is also known as trihalomethane or methyltrichloride. It is a colourless liquid with a pleasant non-irritating odour and a slightly sweet taste. It was previously used as an anaesthetic,
but is no longer used today.
Allowable quantity
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the US limits the total trihalomethanes, a class of chemicals that include chloroform, in drinking water (in US) is 100 microgrammes per litre.
Effect of chloroform
According to ATSDR, in humans, chloroform affects the central nervous system (brain), liver and kidneys after a person breathes air or drinks liquids that contain large amounts of chloroform.