As a commitment from the Center for Drug and Food Monitoring (BBPOM) in maintaining drug and food safety, the BBPOM in Jakarta was again present with DPR Commission IX Member, Dian Istiqomah, carrying out community empowerment activities through Communication, Information and Education (KIE) on drugs and food.

People must be able to protect themselves

It aims to improve public knowledge and awareness regarding safe medicine and food in West Jakarta on Sunday - Monday, precisely from September 17 to 18, 2023. The activity which carried the theme "Healthy with Safe Medicine and Food" and was attended by 500 participants.

Jakarta BBPOM Head, Sofiyani Chandrawati Anwar expressed there are three layers of the drug and food control system, one of which is the community/consumer control sub-system.

According to her, it was expected to improve public awareness and knowledge in making decisions to buy and use safe medicines and food, thereby ultimately encouraging producers to maintain the quality of their products.

"People must be able to protect themselves and their families from unsafe drugs and food, which pose a risk to health. You must know the characteristics of foods that contain dangerous ingredients such as formaldehyde, borax, and textile dyes," she expressed, in her written statement, Wednesday (9/20).

Along with the increase in online sales of medicine and food, people must also be vigilant when buying medicine and food. Make sure to buy medicines online at official facilities that have a permit for electronic pharmacy system operators from the Ministry of Health.

"Make sure the medicines, traditional medicines, cosmetics, health supplements, and food purchased have BBPOM distribution permits, you can use the BBPOM Mobile application," she explained.

DPR Commission IX Member, Dian Istiqomah also invited the public to become smart consumers before using or consuming medicines and food, by Checking KLIK, namely Checking Packaging, Checking Labels, Checking Marketing Permits, and Checking Expiration.

"Ensure the safety of medicine and food, don't easily believe hoax news, first make sure it's true, not what people say but make sure what BBPOM says," she said.