Badanas Boss Bans Bulog Distribution Of Busuk Rice

Head of the National Food Agency (Bapanas) Arief Prasetyo Adi. (Photo: ANTARA)

JAKARTA - Head of the National Food Agency (Bapanas) Arief Prasetyo Adi forbade Perum Bulog to distribute unfit rice for consumption, aka rotten.

The statement was in response to the findings of the Chairman of Commission IV of the DPR, Siti Hediati Hariyadi or Titiek Suharto regarding 1,200 tons of Bulog rice in Ternate, North Maluku, where some of the rice is said to have turned yellow and was deemed unfit for consumption.

"If it can still be reprocessed, reprocessed or qualitary control. But if for example it is rotten, it must not be circulated to the public," said Arief when met at the Office of the Coordinating Ministry for Food, Jakarta, Monday, September 29.

According to Arief, periodic maintenance of rice stocks in Bulog's warehouse is considered that there are around 4 million tons of government rice reserves (CBP) that he manages.

Furthermore, Arief said, if it turns out that a decrease in the quality of rice in a certain area is found, then the relevant authorities must be responsible.

"If there are such partialities, we want to ask for responsibility from, one, the pinwil, regional leaders, second, branch leaders, the third is the head of the warehouse. Every day we enter the warehouse, do you not know that there are bad things? , "he explained.

Arief also admitted that he regularly reminded Bulog to maintain the quality of the rice in his warehouse. Even so, he admitted that it was not easy to take care of thousands of warehouses.

"We have also repeatedly (reminded). Once again, we also have to support our friends in Bulog, because it is not easy to take care of 1,600 rice ( warehousers) and some in remote areas," he said.

Di sisi lain, Arief juga mengakui beras yang disimpan di gudang Bulog sejak 2024, mutunya bisa berkurang.

Karena itu, kata dia, perlu perawatan secara berkala.

Adapun perawatan yang dimaksud mulai dari difumigasi untuk menghindari kutu beras.

Lalu, diproses ulang untuk memulihkan kembali kualitaanya. Serta, disortir antara beras yang patah dan butiran utuh.

“Kalau tadi difumigasi, fumigasi itu artinya tetap food grade, tetapi kutunya enggak bisa. Karena itu harus. Jadi perawatan itu namanya kita nyetok 3,5 juta sampai 4 juta ton, perawatan itu harus terus-menerus,” ujarnya.

On the other hand, Arief also admitted that the rice stored in Bulog's warehouse since 2024, its quality can be reduced.

Therefore, he said, periodic care is needed.

The treatment in question starts from being fumigated to avoiding rice ticks.

Then, it is reprocessed to restore the qualitata. Also, sorted between broken rice and whole grains.

"If it was fumigated, the fumigation means it's still a food grade, but the ticks can't. Because it has to be. So our name is 3,5 million to 4 million tons, the treatment must be continuous," he said.