EAGER to reassure consumers wary of food containing dairy products from China, major food manufacturers have come out to say their snacks are safe to eat.

On Saturday, both Kraft and Wall's took out advertisements in major newspapers, including The Straits Times, to reassure customers that their products do not contain milk or dairy ingredients from China.

Kraft makes Oreo biscuits under the Nabisco brand, and Kraft cheese products, while Wall's is known for its eponymous ice cream products.

But their clarifications only created more confusion, as consumers felt their claims contradicted actions taken by supermarkets and the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA).

Oreo WaferSticks and certain Wall's ice cream products were among the 200 items which have been pulled by retailers, after the AVA imposed a temporary ban on Sept 19 on all made-in-China milk and dairy products, as a precautionary measure while it tests for contaminated products.

When asked about the advertisements, the AVA reiterated that all such products have been removed from shelves by now.

Their spokesman Goh Shih Yong added: 'The AVA will take enforcement action if we find that the claims are not true.'

The advertisements had prompted a flurry of letters and e-mail messages from confused consumers questioning the truth of their claims and the AVA's directive.

Reader Edward Tan pointed out that the Oreo WaferSticks packaging states that it is made with milk powder and is a product of China.

'The logical inference is therefore that Nabisco, a Kraft company, manufactured Oreo WaferSticks in China with milk powder from China. Kraft should explain its statement,' said Mr Tan.

Another reader, Mr Lucas Png, also pointed out the discrepancies between the companies' claims and the decision by the AVA to pull made-in-China dairy products.

'Obviously, there must have been some reason for suspicion by the AVA. Now, who are we to believe?' he asked.

When asked about this, Unilever, which owns Wall's, clarified that while some of their products are made in China, the dairy ingredients of such products are from elsewhere.

'We can confirm that the Unilever ice creams manufactured in China for export to Malaysia and Singapore use only imported milk powder and whey powder sourced from Australia, New Zealand, USA or Europe,' said a spokesman for Unilever.

She added that their products had been cleared by the Ministry of Health in Malaysia, including those products manufactured in China.

As of press time, Kraft was unable to answer queries about where the dairy ingredients of its China-made products are from.

But in an earlier statement, it had said that Oreo products made in China, Taiwan and Indonesia do not contain milk powder sourced from China. Another China-made product, Oreo Crumb, does not contain any milk powder, it added.

The AVA is still ploughing through the inspection of more than 1,200 samples of made-in-China products, and products made elsewhere which may contain China dairy.

So far eight items here have been found tainted with melamine, the same potentially harmful chemical which was added to milk in China, causing an Asia-wide contamination scandal. None of them is made by Kraft nor Unilever.

twong@sph.com.sg

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WHO TO BELIEVE?

'Obviously, there must have been some reason for suspicion by the AVA. Now, who are we to believe?'
Reader Lucas Png, pointing out the discrepancies between the companies' claims and the decision by the AVA to pull made-in-China dairy products