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Plastic rice spreads to Papua
Residents reported finding synthetic rice in the city to the Jayapura Trade and Industry Agency on Friday
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Residents reported finding synthetic rice in the city to the Jayapura Trade and Industry Agency on Friday.
Yves Papare, a resident of Waena, Jayapura, said she unknowingly bought synthetic rice from a rice stand in the city and had reported it to the agency.
'The rice is similar to that widely exposed by national media. After cooking it for two hours, my family and I could not eat it. It smelled bad and was inedible,' she told The Jakarta Post on Friday.
She added that she paid Rp 12,000 (90 US cents) per kilogram for it.
Jayapura Trade and Industry Agency head Robert Awi confirmed that plastic rice was being sold in Jayapura.
'We confiscated several tons of synthetic rice from a rice stand in Waena and handed it over to the Food and Drug Monitoring Agency for analysis,' he said.
The government and the police are cracking down on rice kiosks, traditional markets and shopping malls following the confiscation of plastic rice in Bekasi recently.
The consumption of synthetic rice, a blend of resin, sweet potatoes and Chinese potatoes, can cause heart and kidney problems and cancer, according to the police and health authorities.(++++)
