Mars products included in Indonesian destruction of Chinese imports

Mars Symbioscience Indonesia was shocked to read reports that the Indonesian BPOM (Food and Drug Monitoring Agency) has included M&M’s Chocolate Candies and Snickers bars as part of a government decision to destroy all imports of Chinese products containing dairy ingredients. Mars products are understood to have been included in the destruction, even though tests of those products by the BPOM at its own laboratory this past weekend confirmed that the products are clear of melamine and safe for consumption. The apparent decision to destroy the products follows a surprise when the products were confiscated from an authorized Mars distributor’s warehouse in Beskai.


Late last month, the BPOM announced melamine test results which contradicted hundreds of test results and analytical data from governmental agencies and independent laboratories across Asia, Australia and Europe, all of which confirmed that Mars products made in China are safe for consumption.
Samples from the same production batch of Mars products which led the BPOM to make its initial announcement were also tested at an independent laboratory in Australia, which found all such samples to be clear of melamine and safe for consumption. Based on all the evidence available, BPOM’s initial announcement appears to have been based on flawed test results.


The BPOM is the only agency in the world which has reported high levels of melamine in Mars products made in China. In light of overwhelming evidence from other laboratories confirming the safety of Mars products, the BPOM agreed to work together with Mars to retest products. As part of that process, Mars and the BPOM agreed that no Mars products would be destroyed unless the re-tests confirmed that they were unsafe for consumption. In fact, the opposite happened; joint re-tests were conducted at BPOM laboratories in Jakarta over the weekend and in all cases the tests confirmed that Mars products are clear of melamine and safe for consumption.


Noel Janetski, President Director of PT Mars Symbioscience Indonesia said that: “If these reports are true, we find it hard to understand why, given the latest results from BPOM’s own lab confirming the safety of our products, our products were still destroyed. Just this past Sunday we were given a certificate signed by BPOM officials confirming that the Mars products which we understand BPOM has now destroyed are clear of melamine. All of the products were legally imported into Indonesia, properly registered with BPOM and proven to be clear of melamine. While we understand the need for the Indonesian government to make this symbolic gesture to the people of Indonesia, we feel that it is inappropriate for our clearly safe products to have been included.”
Mars products made in China have been declared safe by the governments of Japan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, The Philippines, Thailand, Taiwan, Vietnam and China. Independent laboratories in Australia have tested numerous samples of M&M’s Chocolate Candies and Snickers bars taken from the same production batch of products destroyed by the BPOM in Jakarta, and all were found to be clear of melamine. More than 100 samples of the milk ingredients used to make Mars chocolate products in China during the last 12 months have been tested by the government of China and an independent lab in Germany and all samples were found to be clear of melamine.


“We believe that the consumer is our boss – and that the trust that consumers have in our products is our most critical asset and cannot be compromised. It is this commitment to quality that has, in part, made our brands so popular around the globe.” Mars regrets the unnecessary and substantial damage to its brands by this latest action but will continue to work with the relevant Indonesian authorities to resolve any misunderstanding that led to BPOM’s latest actions and ensure that our consumers in Indonesia can continue to enjoy the products they have known and loved for years.