Tainted calcium tablets recalled
MANILA, Philippines—Pascual Consumer Healthcare Corp. has recalled some stocks of its chocolate-flavored calcium supplement, CalChews, from the market after traces of microbes were found in certain stocks.
Pascual Consumer Healthcare Corp., a subsidiary of Pascual Laboratories Inc. (PascualLab), ordered the voluntary recall of CalChews stocks with lot numbers 382BWA and 382BWB, said Ricky Rivera, president of Pascual Consumer Healthcare.
“In keeping with Pascual Consumer Healthcare Corp.’s commitment to serve with integrity and to guarantee the quality of our products, we are implementing, as a precautionary measure, the voluntary product recall of CalChews chocolate variant bearing the lot numbers 382BWA and 382BWB, due to findings of microbial presence,” Rivera said.
He said the company formally notified the Philippine Food and Drug Administration of the product recall on Oct. 29 and took actions to ensure the safety of the public.
Based on its records, 164 boxes of these lots have been distributed to 17 trade accounts. CalChews is manufactured in the United States, but is packed, labelled and distributed by PascualLab.
PascualLab said its stringent and cGMP-compliant (current Good Manufacturing Practices) quality control procedures detected the microbes in the affected lots of CalChews.
The company then immediately stopped the labelling and release of all stocks of CalChews from its Balagtas plant on Oct. 25.
PascualLab said it had informed the US manufacturer of CalChews of its findings. A comprehensive investigation of the matter will commence shortly.
The investigation shall cover food origin, production process and environment, food samples and environmental monitoring. It will also involve a review of product handling as well as processing controls, the company added.
The company, however, assured the public that other lots of CalChews available in the market have also been tested and found to be compliant to product quality specifications.
