FDA: 5 vinegar brands found to contain synthetic acetic acid

MANILA, Philippines – The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has flagged 5 vinegar brands that should not be sold to the public as these were found to contain synthetic acetic acid. 

In an advisory released on Tuesday, June 4, the FDA said this was the result of tests it conducted on “39 samples of vinegar collected from various sources” to address public concern over the presence of synthetic acetic acid in certain vinegar brands in the market.

The vinegar brands are:

• Surebuy Cane Vinegar 
• Tentay Pinoy Style Vinegar 
• Tentay Premium Vinegar (Batch/ Lot No. TV SEP0718AC)
• Tentay Vinegar ‘Sukang Tunay Asim’ 
• Chef’s Flavor Vinegar  (Batch/Lot no. 8870401)

“Following the current administrative order prescribing the standard of identity and quality of vinegar, any artificial matter such as synthetic acid or any cloudifying agent deems the vinegar adulterated hence, it must not be sold to the public,” the advisory read.

The FDA clarified that the presence of synthetic acetic acid in the vinegars “is not a safety issue and does not pose any health risk to consumers.”

“This only means that the vinegar is of substandard quality. The presence of synthetic acetic acid merely represents that the vinegar did not undergo fermentation, either through a slow process, quick process, or submerged culture process which is used for commercial vinegar production,” FDA said.

The FDA said the manufacturing facilities of the identified vinegar brands would be inspected “to further verify whether the producers of the above products use synthetic acetic acid.”

“Appropriate regulatory action shall be imposed on those non-compliant establishments found violating current standards, rules and regulations of the FDA,” it added.

It reminded all concerned business establishments “to follow and strictly comply with quality standards in the production of vinegar.” – Rappler.com