Malaysia and Singapore Dominate Findings of Illegal Imported Food in Indonesia

JAKARTA - The Food and Drug Supervisory Agency (BPOM) revealed that the most imported processed food products that are not eligible or do not meet the provisions in Indonesia come from Malaysia and Singapore.

The Head of the Taruna Ikrar Food and Drug Supervisory Agency, said based on the results of intensifying food supervision ahead of Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr 2026, most of the imported food without distribution permits came from Malaysia.

"As much as 70.4 percent came from Malaysia and 11.3 percent from Singapore, followed by China at 10.4 percent and Thailand at 2.2 percent," said Taruna in a press conference in Jakarta, Antara, Wednesday, March 11.

He explained that the supervision was carried out on 1,134 processed food circulation facilities in 38 provinces in Indonesia.

Of this amount, the majority of the facilities inspected were modern retail at 50.2 percent, followed by traditional retail at 32.5 percent, distributor warehouses at 16.6 percent, importer warehouses at 0.6 percent, and e-commerce warehouses or lokapasar at 0.1 percent.

The results of the examination showed that as many as 739 facilities or 62.2 percent were found to meet the provisions, while 395 facilities or 34.8 percent did not meet the provisions.

The facilities that do not meet the provisions consist of 227 modern retailers, 143 traditional retailers, 24 distributor warehouses, and one importer warehouse.

In addition, BPOM also found a number of food products that did not meet the provisions, including food without a distribution permit of 27,407 pieces or 48 percent of the total findings.

Then expired food was 23,776 pieces or 42 percent and damaged food was 4,844 pieces or about 8.7 percent.

Taruna explained that the high number of findings of food without an authorization to distribute was triggered by the high demand from consumers which encouraged the entry of illegal supplies through unofficial channels, especially in border areas.

Meanwhile, the findings of expired and damaged food are influenced by the length of the supply chain, the slow turnover of stocks, and poor inventory management.

BPOM also noted a number of regions with the most food findings without distribution permits, including Palembang with 10,848 pieces, Batam 2,653 pieces, Palopo in South Sulawesi 2,756 pieces, Sanggau 1,654 pieces, and Tarakan 1,305 pieces.

The types of food without distribution permits that were most commonly found include seasonings and condiments, food additives, snacks, textured products, processed meat, and processed cereals.

Taruna emphasized that the supervision was carried out to prevent public health risks due to the circulation of food that does not meet the provisions, as well as to ensure food safety during the period of Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr 1447 Hijriah.