May 21, p2

The Bekasi Trade Agency deployed officials to seven traditional markets in the city on Wednesday to take rice samples following a report of plastic rice being sold in a store at Mutiara Gading Market, East Bekasi, West Java.

Bekasi Trade Agency trade department head Herbert Panjaitan said over the phone on Wednesday that his office would bring the samples to the Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM) and state-owned survey company PT Sucofindo on Thursday. '€œThe test results are expected to be issued two or three days after the sample submissions,'€ he said.

Previously, a rice porridge seller of Mustikajaya subdistrict in Bekasi, identified as Dewi Septiani, uploaded pictures of alleged fake rice on social media and sent an email to the BPOM after she was unable to cook the rice into porridge.

Your comments:

This is an Internet hoax created by a woman via social media. Producing plastic rice would be relatively expensive and thus profits would be minimal.

Indonesians are real rice connoisseurs, at least compared to me, who once thought that Uncle Ben'€™s non-sticky rice was non-plus-ultra. Such a scam wouldn'€™t last long in this country.

Any reports of such rice being found, or of the differences of fake rice compared to real rice, or of a local production facility somewhere in Java, should be taken with precaution.

Charles Marks

Look at the guys in charge, saying that the import of rice is restricted, so local farmers will provide it. We are moments away from Ramadhan, when people fasting eat more than twice the amount of food as normal. What better way to scare them off imported rice and pay premiums for locally produced rice.

Just liven up a 4-year-old hoax that nobody got ever arrested for, made plausible because of the baby milk scare and other stuff.

Cukup

Fake rice made with plastic is reportedly spreading across Asia.

Plastic rice sold on the Chinese market has reportedly found its way into various Asian countries, including India, Indonesia and Vietnam. It'€™s made by mixing potatoes, sweet potatoes and synthetic resin, according to the International Business Times.

It'€™s long been circulating on the market in city of Taiyuan and Shaanxi province and appears identical to natural rice.

Health experts have warned that consuming fake rice can seriously damage the digestive system.

The authorities have attempted to quell consumers'€™ fears as the Internet has been abuzz with news of the fake rice across Asia.

Abdul

It seems a strange way to make money. Something like baby formula or supplements are more often contaminated by Chinese manufacturers. This makes sense because the plastic powder is less than the cost of the ingredients.

Most plastic contamination comes from the packaging. Sucofindo says it found '€œtraces of plasticizer'€ in the rice. Are traces more than the allowable health regulation standards?

How about this scenario? Police take rice from the market. They use nonfood grade plastic bags, which then contaminate the rice at a low level.

This is the most common cause of plastic contamination in food. Sucofindo analyses the rice and finds this low-level contamination. Sucofindo issues the statement saying the source of contamination is from plasticizers.

In Vietnam, India, Malaysia and Singapore there have been no official cases of fake plastic rice. The Vietnamese and Indian governments even issued statements saying the rumors were false. Maybe there is fake rice here but maybe there'€™s another explanation.

I don'€™t like food grown in China as it has too much of a chance of being contaminated. But you have to be sensible and not trust everything on social media.

Testi

This could kill men, women and children. My goodness, what government would permit this? What sick individuals are cashing in on this crime? What of the country'€™s food security? Will this turn into a deadly epidemic with millions dead? Will it cause cancer as well?

Seanus Gilhooley

You need to read more about the outside world. The plastic rice is coming from China. It'€™s imported. When the Indonesian government says there is a ban on imported rice, it does not mean there is a ban. Certain types of rice have always been imported. It just means the State Logistics Agency is not going to be buying imported rice.

The plastic rice comes from China and the Chinese have been selling plastic rice since 2011, but this is the first time it has reached other Asian countries. It'€™s not just Indonesia. There are reports of people seeing plastic rice in Malaysia, India and Vietnam.

Weilim

This is serious. This can'€™t be some accident in a rice handling factory, where a possible mistake in the production process introduced foreign material. This calls for a serious investigation.

Charry

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