30 Sept - Mars Inc has said it has “significant reason to question” results by Indonesian Government scientists that claimed to show some of the US company's best known chocolate brands were contaminated with melamine.
The confectionery giant was reacting to the news that the Indonesian regulatory authority BPOM had destroyed some Mars' chocolate products in the country after saying they contained traces of the industrial chemical.
The company said it was confident that none of its Chinese-made chocolate or confectionery products were tainted with melamine and they remained safe for consumption.
Mars said tests carried out on their products by governments across South East Asia, as well as by an independent laboratory in Germany, had found no traces of melamine.
The company said that its subsidiary, Mars China, does not source milk or any other ingredients for any of its products from any company which has been found to be selling melamine contaminated dairy products. It said its domestic milk powder suppliers in China "own and control the pipeline from milk to collection to milk processing, without interference by traders or other middlemen".
Mars also said tests conducted by AQSIQ (the Chinese food safety watchdog) during the last fortnight had found its products were free of melamine.
A company statement said: “In light of the above, Mars is extremely surprised about the recent announcement that tests conducted by the BPOM, the Indonesian regulatory authority, have shown that M&Ms® and Snickers® products made in China contain melamine.
“The results announced by the BPOM conflict with and are completely inconsistent with all analytical results received to date by Mars from governmental agencies and independent laboratories across Asia and Europe. The vastly different results give Mars significant reason to question the validity of the Indonesian laboratory results. “
Mars said it was in contact with the Indonesian authorities in a bid to gain “a better understanding of the methodology used and the basis upon which BPOM has reached its conclusions”.