Government shares concerns about rising prices of infant milk powder: Koh Poh Koon
The Singapore government shares the concerns of parents about the rising prices of infant milk powder and will take steps to ensure that options are available for their children, said Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry (MTI) Koh Poh Koon on Monday (8 May).
Koh’s comments in Parliament come amid recent media reports of prices of infant milk powder more than doubling over the last 10 years.
“The government will simplify and streamline import requirements as well as remove unnecessary barriers to entry in order to bring in more options for parents but most importantly, without compromising food safety,” Koh said.
On their part, parents should be careful about unsubstantiated claims from sellers of such products, he added.
“Some infant formula companies gave the impression that their particular brand of milk or milk powder can actually do more. The scientific evidence for this is weak.
“Without better information, parents should therefore be careful about relying on the claims made by infant formula companies, or be misled into using price as a proxy for quality of the product,” said Koh.
The Sale of Infant Food Ethics Committee Singapore (SIFECS) already has a code of ethics that restricts advertising of infant milk powder for infants below six months in Singapore, and the Health Promotion Board is supporting an ongoing review of the code to cover infants of up to 12 months of age.
“The Agri-food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) will tighten its restrictions on labelling and advertising further, including prohibiting the use of nutritional and health claims, and idealised images for infant formula milk,” Koh said.
The restrictions will discourage companies from incurring “massive costs” on aggressive advertising activities and passing on the costs to consumers, he added.
In his response to a question from MacPherson SMC Member of Parliament Tin Pei Ling about whether MTI will ensure fair pricing for the price of infant milk powder, Koh stressed that parents need to be aware that a cheaper brand formula does not mean it is of poorer quality.
Koh gave the assurance that infant milk powder sold in Singapore meets food regulations and nutritional needs for infants to grow healthily regardless of prices.
“I think that is where education of the parents (is needed) to allay the anxiety that they are not shortchanging the children by giving them a cheaper option because the cheaper option, nutritionally, is just as good as the more expensive one,” he said.
He also said that the Competition Commission of Singapore (CCS) is monitoring infant milk powder prices to ensure that there is fair competition and no price fixing in the market.
Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC MP Sun Xueling posted on her Facebook page about Koh’s response, saying, “We should not hesitate to take punitive action if major suppliers of infant milk formula are found to have engaged in price-fixing or manipulative behaviour, thereby raising the costs or misleading consumers.”
