BPOM to Oversee Village Cooperatives for Product Safety

Indonesia's National Agency of Drug and Food Control (BPOM) has pledged to become a central oversight body for the "Red and White Village Cooperative" program, a key initiative championed by President Prabowo Subianto. BPOM aims to strengthen its supervision system from production to distribution, ensuring all products sold through village cooperatives adhere to strict safety, quality, efficacy, and legality standards before reaching consumers.

BPOM Head Taruna Ikrar stated that village cooperatives will serve as distribution hubs for a wide range of products under BPOM's purview, including processed foods, traditional medicines, health supplements, cosmetics, and various small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) products. "Economic growth must go hand-in-hand with public protection. Products marketed through the Red and White Cooperative must meet requirements for safety, quality, efficacy, and regulatory compliance so the public benefits without facing health risks," Ikrar said in an official statement on Thursday, July 16.

Ikrar emphasized BPOM's dual role as both a post-market regulator and a pre-market advisor. Through various support programs, BPOM assists village SMEs in meeting production standards, expedites registration and distribution permits, implements Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP), provides food safety education, and enhances the capacity of business actors to produce competitive, high-quality goods. BPOM's strategic roles include issuing permits for medicines and food, managing over-the-counter drugs, overseeing food safety in distribution channels, and certifying food safety management systems.

These measures are designed to ensure village products can enter the market legally, safely, and with public trust. Ikrar believes product quality will be the primary determinant of the Red and White Cooperative program's success. The program's value will be measured not just by the number of cooperatives or transaction volume, but by their ability to offer products meeting national standards for domestic and international competitiveness. To achieve this, BPOM is intensifying collaboration with ministries, local governments, universities, businesses, and SME communities to build an integrated guidance and oversight system.

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Economic growth must go hand-in-hand with public protection. Products marketed through the Red and White Cooperative must meet requirements for safety, quality, efficacy, and regulatory compliance so the public benefits without facing health risks.