Jakarta. The Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI) has called on the Indonesian government to take decisive action following recent cases of illegal Chinese children's snacks circulating in the country.

"Those responsible must be traced and prosecuted. We need to identify who is involved in the supply, distribution, and sale of these illegal products," said YLKI Executive Sudaryatmo on Sunday.

Sudaryatmo highlighted an incident involving the snacks "Hot Spicy Latiru" and "Latiao Stripes," where several students from SDN Cidadap I Elementary School in Sukaraja District, Sukabumi Regency, experienced dizziness, nausea, and vomiting after consumption.

He stressed the need for the government to investigate the supply chain of these snacks to protect public health, especially since children commonly consume these products. 

Sudaryatmo attributed these food poisoning cases to weak regulatory oversight in Indonesia, leading to an influx of substandard Chinese products. He urged the government, especially local education and health departments, to be more proactive in monitoring.

"Since this involves school snacks, local governments, particularly education and health departments, should regularly inspect the products sold in schools," Sudaryatmo said.

He also cited other concerning incidents involving Chinese products, including contaminated cooking oil and unsterile practices in the Tsingtao beer and Henan Shuanghui pork processing plants.

"These cases remind us of the major scandal in China when melamine was found in milk, leading to the deaths of six babies and poisoning hundreds of thousands of children," Sudaryatmo concluded.

Latiao is a long, red, stick-shaped snack with a spicy flavor. It has gone viral due to its addictive savory and spicy taste.

Latiao is made from wheat flour, kinako (roasted soybean flour), and chili oil. These ingredients are mixed with water, salt, sugar, flavor enhancers, vegetable oil, and several other ingredients, and then heated at high temperatures.

A search on the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI)  website did not find any Latiao products certified as halal.

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