Caution When Buying Takjil, Kediri Health Office Officers Find Borax At Snacks Market

KEDIRI - Joint officers from the Health Office of Kediri City and Loka POM in Kediri Regency, East Java, inspected a number of snacks at the shocked market and found one snack that contained borax during the inspection.

"We took two points. On Jalan Hayam Wuruk we took 20 samples and after we tested one positive was given borax," said Head of the POM Loka Kediri Regency, Joni Edrus Setiawan, quoted by Antara, Wednesday, April 6.

The market snacks are deliberately given borax to make it more chewy. As for other market snacks, they are still safe, no hazardous content was found. In addition to market snacks, there are also a variety of side dishes and drinks and no harmful ingredients.

In addition to the shock market on Jalan Hayam Wuruk, officers also conducted inspections at the shock market located at Taman Sekartaji, Kediri City. Officers took 15 samples, and all of them contained no hazardous materials.

Head of the Kediri City Health Office, Doctor Fauzan Adima, said his team had also gone to the field to provide socialization to traders as well as investigations.

"We have investigated, sometimes traders don't know where they get it from. We do coaching," he said.

According to him, some traders buy materials that are not branded. This is supposed to keep production costs to a minimum, so they buy materials with rather low quality.

For this reason, his party recommends that traders during production, so that the products they sell are of high quality.

"Our advice to traders is for convenience and safety to buy quality materials, branded, with trademarks," he said.

Borax can be harmful to the body. In the short term, it can affect health, while in the long term it can cause damage to the kidneys, liver, and even cancer.

His party also plans in the near future to carry out sudden inspections (sidak) to the market in Kediri City, to find out whether there are harmful ingredients in the food being sold or not.

Meanwhile, the sellers in the shocked market were selling in the afternoon and into the evening. They sell a variety of food and drinks including market snacks.