It is said that the competition was so fierce that one of the sales force team literally told consumers not to buy their competitor's product because it contain preservatives. Off course, we as consumers have the right to know the truth and this kind of information will help us to decide which product to buy in the market.
The accused producer was not happy at all and rumor said that they fight back and argued that the claim "no preservatives" (tanpa pengawet) put on pack is ofter misleading. They explain that things like sugar and salt are actually food preservatives as well.
The most absurd thing was that now BPOM (Indonesian FDA) state that no producer can claim "No Preservative" or "Tanpa Pengawet" on any processed food (and beverage) products.
a. Processing : pasteurisation, freezing, dehydration
b. Adding natural preservative : sugar and salt
c. Adding chemical preservative : Benzoats, Sorbates, Nitrites, Sulphites