Alert! Imported Used Clothes Contain Mold, Doesn't Lose Even When Washed Repeatedly

Illustration (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Trade symbolically destroys imported used clothes. This is because imported used clothes contain bacteria, one of which is mold.

Even the bacteria did not disappear even though it was washed repeatedly.

Used clothes are goods that are prohibited from importing based on Regulation of the Minister of Trade Number 18 of 2021 as amended by Regulation of the Minister of Trade Number 40 of 2022 concerning Amendment to Regulation of the Minister of Trade Number 18 of 2021 concerning Goods Prohibited from Exporting and Goods Prohibited from Importing.

The Director General of Consumer Protection and Trade Order (PKTN) of the Ministry of Trade, Veri Anggrijono, said that the use of imported used clothing for a long time can be harmful to skin health.

"We educate the public and consumers that the results of laboratory checks on imported used clothing contain fungi. If they are used by the community, it will have an impact on the skin. Even though they have been washed several times (the fungus does not disappear)," he said when met in the Karawang Warehousing Area, West Java, Friday, 12 August.

Therefore, the Ministry of Trade together with the Customs and Excise Ministry of Finance and the police secured as many as 750 bales of used clothes in the period from June to August 2022.

The imported used clothes enter through the rat route, Tarakan port, North Kalimantan and are circulated on the island of Java.

Based on the results of tests conducted at the Goods Quality Testing Center, the samples of used clothing that had been secured were proven to contain 'mold mold'. Mold contamination has the potential to cause adverse health effects, such as itching and allergic reactions to the skin, toxic effects of irritation, and infection because the clothes are attached directly to the body.

Of course this can harm the community as well as violate the provisions of Article 8 Paragraph (2) of Law Number 8 of 1999 concerning Consumer Protection.

Therefore, said Veri, the Ministry of Trade carried out the extermination as a form of commitment in the process of supervision and law enforcement related to violations in the field of trade and consumer protection.

On the same occasion, the Minister of Trade (Minister of Trade) Zulkifli Hasan as Zulkifli Hasan is familiarly called, invited the public not to use thrifted imported clothes.

The reason, because it is not good for public health.

"We will educate the public so as not to use used goods that come from nowhere from abroad," he said.

By avoiding the use of used clothing from imports, said Zulhas, consumers can avoid the bad effects of used clothing in the long term and can protect the domestic industry.