(May 26): All Kedai Rakyat 1Malaysia (KR1M)-brand of soy sauce (kicap masin) were taken off the shelves from outlets in Sarawak last week following suspicions that the products contained excessive level of benzoic acid, authorities said.

Benzoic acid is used as a preservative in all processed foods to keep them from spoiling as it inhibits the growth of mould, yeast and some bacteria.

A random sampling of three brands of sauces – sweet black sauce (kicap lemak manis) and salty soy sauce – taken from the batch with an August 15, 2017 expiry date, found that the salty soya sauce bottled for KR1M had benzoic acid way above the permitted level of 1,000ppm (part per million), state Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Ministry director Datuk Stanley Tan said in Kuching, to allay fears over the consumption of other soy sauces.

Soy sauces, a condiment made from fermented soybean, are an important part of Asian cuisine.

Tan said the salty soy sauce would not be placed back on the shelf until the Sarawak Health Department permitted it.

The department ordered all the KR1M soy sauces off the shelves in all its 30 outlets in the state last Thursday via a food alert notice dated May 19 and issued by the state health deputy director (Food Quality and Safety) David Lau Chien Loung.

Lau in the alert only stated the KR1M salty soy sauce, which was tested on April 30, violated the Food Act 1983 and Food Regulations 1985.

Assistant Minister of Public Health Datuk Dr Jerip Susil on Sunday said health officers would seize the sauce if it was found on the shelf.

Tan said the salty soy sauce was confined to Sarawak even though the regional daily, The Borneo Post, quoted a “shop assistant” as saying the sauce was bottled in the peninsula before it was shipped to KR1M stores.

In Sarawak, the sauce was shipped to a stockist in Padawan before it was redistributed to all their stores. – The Malaysian Insider