Reports on fake rice fake news – retailers

MANILA, Philippines -  Reports on social media that so-called fake rice is sold in local markets are a hoax, according to rice retailers.

“There’s no such thing as fake rice, only fake news. There is no fake rice discovered now and even in 2015 when a similar incident surfaced,” James Magbanua, Grain Retailers Confederation of the Philippines Inc. (Grecon) president, told a press briefing yesterday.

Magbanua said selling fake rice is a “no-win situation” for rice retailers.

“There’s no imaginable benefit in selling fake rice on the part of the retailers. There is no incentive in selling fake rice,” he said.“It is costlier to produce fake rice or put plastic additives...(it) will destroy our business and create unnecessary panic.”

Grecon sought the creation of a rice watch committee to address the issue of fake rice. The panel will be composed of concerned government agencies and the private sector to be supported by legal team.

The National Food Authority (NFA) said samples of supposed fake rice passed laboratory tests.

“Tests on suspected fake rice submitted to the food development center of the NFA for analyses showed starch granules, starch content and sensory characteristics typical of raw rice,” said NFA Administrator Jason Aquino.

“The lack of discernment helped create a new modus operandi which targeted grains retailers... It was a clear and concerted effort to defraud and harass members of Grecon,” Aquino said.

The NFA ordered its field offices to heighten monitoring and seek out people complaining about alleged fake rice in their respective areas.

Reports on fake rice also circulated in 2015, but test results show that the unusual appearance was due only to a retrogradation process, which involved a series of freezing, thawing and heating.

Rice was found contaminated with a plasticizer chemical compound called dibutyl phthalate due to mishandling or keeping the rice in a container prone to contamination from other stocks.

“What we had in the past was an isolated case of chemically contaminated sample which may have been the result of mishandling or pure neglect to safeguard rice from contaminants,” Aquino said.