The Municipal Affairs Bureau (IAM) and the Macau Consumer Council (CCM) have announced that a batch of Chang Soda Water sold in Macau contains excessive amounts of bromate.
According to an IAM statement on Wednesday, the bureau has instructed retailers to stop selling the affected batch of Chang Soda Water and urged the public to stop drinking it. The statement did not say when the Thai bottled soda water’s excessive bromate content was detected.
However, the statement pointed out that the bureau and the council conduct regular tests at food and beverage retail outlets. One of the tests found that the bromate content of a sample named “Chang Soda Water” was 0.0462 mg per litre which exceeded the requirements of Macau’s “Hygienic Guideline for Packaged Drinking Water” (GL 001 DSA 2018).
The origin of the product in question is Thailand, the net content is 325 ml and the batch number is 23012020, BB: 23012021, according to the statement.
The statement pointed out that the bureau’s Food Safety Department has taken immediate follow-up measures, contacting the local supplier and retailers of the beverage in question, instructing them to remove the problematic batch of bottles from the market, tracing the source and retailers of the products and issuing a warning. Since the product came from a Hong Kong supplier, the bureau has notified Hong Kong’s Food Safety Department about the case.
The statement noted that bromate in drinking water mainly comes from the ozonation process during disinfection. Ingestion of bromate in large amounts may cause intestinal symptoms, including nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain. In severe cases, it may affect the kidneys and nervous system. Long-term intake of bromate may cause cancer in animals, but there is not enough evidence to prove that bromate can cause cancer in human beings, the bureau pointed out.
The bureau said that it will continue to investigate the incident and check similar products in the market. It urged consumers who have purchased Chang Soda Water bottles from the affected batch to stop drinking the water immediately.
The bureau urged retailers who have bottles from the affected batch in stock to remove the bottles from the shelves and notify the Food Safety Department about it.
Chang Soda Water is produced by Bangkok-based Thai Beverage Public Company Limited (ThaiBev). It is sold in local supermarkets and Thai restaurants.
Bromate in drinking water is undesirable because it is a suspected human carcinogen, according to a Wikipedia article on bromate.
These undated handout photos provided by the Municipal Affairs Bureau (IAM) this week shows a Chang Soda Water bottle from batch 23012020, BB: 23012021 found to contain excessive bromate. Photos: IAM
