Recall of cod liver oil tubs

Malay Mail: Recall of cod liver oil tubs in Britain ‘Products on sale locally not affected’
Health supplements under the Seven Seas brand are still on sale in Malaysia, despite a recall of some of the products in Britain after traces of toxins were found in samples.
The Seven Seas brand, especially its fish oil products, is a popular supplement in Malaysia.
Many readers called to ask about the safety of the products after a report appeared in The Malay Mail last Thursday about the recall.
Some readers were upset that there has been no announcement by the company on whether the local supply was affected.
Others were worried, including a doctor who said he prescribed the fish oil products to pregnant women as a supplement.
However, the Seven Seas products are still freely available in pharmacies.
One pharmacy chain manager said she received a memorandum from the head office saying that local supply was unaffected by the recall.
"We were informed that the Seven Seas products on our shelves are different from those that were recalled," she said.
She also said the pharmacy has yet to receive any complaints from customers on the matter.
Another pharmacist said the distributors of Seven Seas in Malaysia have not informed her of any recall of their products.
"From the newspaper reports that I read, the products recalled in Britain are not the same as the products sold in this pharmacy. So I do not see any problem for our customers," said the pharmacist .
In Malaysia, Seven Seas products are distributed by Merck Sdn Bhd but officials of the company could not be contacted for comment.
Last week, it was reported that Seven Seas, a fully-owned subsidiary of German pharmaceutical company Merck KGaA, is taking a number of the health supplements off the shelves after they were found to be contaminated with cancer-causing dioxins.
Britain’s Food Standards Agency (FSA) said the dioxin level found in the supplements was 2.7 micrograms per kilo, some 35 per cent above the legal limit of 2 micrograms.
Both the FSA and Seven Seas described the higher level of pollutants as a "technical breach" rather than a risk to health.