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Police still investigating plastic rice issue
National Police chief Gen
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N
ational Police chief Gen. Badrodin Haiti says that two more rice samples are being examined to determine whether they contain "plastic rice" grains similar to those found recently in Bekasi, West Java.
"The two samples we collected last night that are currently being tested at the police force's forensics laboratory. We cannot make any conclusions before then," he told reporters on Tuesday at the National Police headquarters in South Jakarta.
The plastic rice, which is suspected to have been imported from China, has caused fresh fears among the public following reports of fake rice being sold to a porridge seller named Dewi Septiani in Mustika Jaya, Bekasi, West Java, last week.
Artificial rice grains have been mixed with regular rice but melt like plastic when cooked.
A laboratory of state-owned survey company PT Superintending Company of Indonesia (Sucofindo) previously confirmed that the rice in Bekasi contained polyvinyl chloride (PVC) usually found in plastic pipes, as well as a plasticizer chemical substance usually found in hydraulic tools and electric capacitors that could cause kidney, liver, lung problems and cancer if consumed.
Residents of Gunung Kidul, Yogyakarta; Jayapura, Papua; and Medan, North Sumatra, have also reported finding plastic rice in their areas.
Badrodin explained that the police force, the Home Ministry and the Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM) met on Monday evening to discuss the issue. However, a final decision will not be made until the results of the two final samples are received.
"We will most likely conduct another meeting tonight [Tuesday], before we can confirm that the suspicious rice grains are made of plastic," he said.
Badrodin said that although previous results had been inconclusive, immediately after Monday's meeting, the police chief expressed doubts about the validity of the reports.
