00:00Singapore's Food Safety Agency does not plan to emulate the Malaysian Health Ministry in
00:07banning pepaku cough syrup-flavoured food products.
00:11The Singapore Food Agency said pepaku was a herbal syrup classified as a Chinese proprietary
00:16medicine and regulated by the Health Sciences Authority.
00:20The authority said it was common for Chinese herbal materials to be used in small amounts
00:25as ingredients or flavourings for food, adding that such products were still subject to the
00:30SFA's food safety laws.
00:32In view of the low levels of each herbal ingredient in the food, it said pepaku-flavoured food
00:38products were unlikely to have any food safety issues.
00:41Nevertheless, the authority said consumers are advised to consume such products in moderation.
00:48Last week, Malaysia's Health Ministry ordered ice cream shop Inside Scoop to halt sales
00:53of its pepaku-flavoured ice cream and for all adverts of the product to be taken down.
00:59It said the preparation or sale of adulterated food was prohibited under Section 13B, Sub
01:042 of the Food Act 1983, which provides for up to five years in jail, a maximum RM20,000
01:11fine or both upon conviction.
