JAKARTA - The government's findings through the Ministry of Agriculture regarding various premium rice brands that do not match the quality and labeling or often called mixed rice, are the focus of improvement in the current national expansion trading system. The National Food Agency (NFA) also encourages premium rice producers to clean up and urge the public to be more observant in choosing rice according to their preferences.
"So the way people see rice before buying, it can be visually, if there are many broken grains, it is almost certain to be a type of medium rice because a maximum of 25 percent of the broken grains. But if there are lots of whole grains, that's a type of premium rice," explained NFA Head Arief Prasetyo Adi when met at the Coordinating Ministry for Food, Jakarta on Thursday, July 17.
"But don't worry, people are welcome to shop for rice. Especially if the rice has a brand. If there is a brand, that means please correct if there is a discrepancy," he added.
Regarding the supply of premium rice, Arief explained that this practice does exist in the form of mixing broken grains with head points. However, the mixing must comply with the quality standards set by the government.
"If the rice is definitely mixed. Why is it mixed? Because there are whole grains and broken grains. Now, if premium rice is whole grain mixed with broken grains of up to 15 percent. Not mixed with rotten rice, it continues to be stirred. This is because quality is quality. This must be maintained," said Arief.
Related to that, the premium rice quality class has been regulated in the National Food Agency Regulation Number 2 of 2023. For premium rice, it must have quality, among others, having broken grains for a maximum of 15 percent, water levels for a maximum of 14 percent, the minimum level of 95 percent, menir grains for a maximum of 0.5 percent, the total other rice grains (butir damaged, limestone grains, red grains/black) a maximum of 1 percent, grains of grains and other objects must be nil.
Not much different, in the Indonesian National Standard (SNI) 6128:2020 non-organic and organic premium rice must have quality components, including broken grains with a maximum of 14.50 percent; head points at least 85.00 percent; menir grains a maximum of 0.50 percent; red/white/white grains a maximum of 0.50 percent; grains are damaged a maximum of 0.50 percent; limestone grains a maximum of 0.50 percent; foreign objects a maximum of 0.01 percent, and grains of grains of grains with a maximum of 1.00 per 100 grams.
"If the term oplosan tends to have a negative connotation. For example, oil costs Rp. 15,000, but is mixed with oil for Rp. 8,000, then sold for Rp. 15,000. Now that means oplos," he said.
"In rice, we have a maximum limit of 15 percent broken rice. If the whole grain was mixed with 15 percent broken grains, that's premium rice and that's the quality standard. So rice mixing but not exceeding quality standards is normal and common," added Arief.
Furthermore, the Head of NFA Arief Prasetyo Adi emphasized that the oplos practice that is not allowed and contains a criminal offense is if you use the Stableized Rice Supply and Food Price (SPHP). This is because the SPHP rice contains subsidies from the state as one of the programs for intervening in the market.
"Then, for government subsidy rice, that cannot be mixed or mixed. SPHP rice with 5 kilograms of packaging must be directly targeted at the public at a price of Rp. 12,500 per kilogram (Zona 1). It cannot be mixed, the packaging cannot be opened to be mixed into other rice," said Arief.
"SPHP rice is medium rice. But indeed some time ago the quality was very good, because the broken price was only 5 percent. This is what the Minister of Agriculture meant that the SPHP rice should not be mixed with other rice. For that, I have asked the President Director of Bulog to ensure that such practices do not occur. The outlets must now be clear, digitally registered," said Arief.
SEE ALSO:
Therefore, the government is currently committed to the establishment of the Red and White Village Cooperative to be used as an official SPHP rice distribution outlet. On July 21, the Red and White Village/Sub-District Cooperative will be launched by President Prabowo Subianto, which also indicates the start of the SPHP rice distribution channel to the community.
"We have improved the supervision of the distribution of SPHP rice. Bulog cooperates with the Food Task Force, both the Police and the TNI. The community can also assist in monitoring aspects related to price, quality of rice to unreasonable practices in the market if any," Arief concluded.
Separately, the President Director of Perum Bulog Ahmad Rizal Ramdhani said that the current strategy of monitoring the distribution of SPHP rice can be monitored digitally. According to him, as a follow-up to assignments from NFA, his party has operated the Klik SPHP application, which requires retailers who want to get the supply of SPHP rice to be registered and certified first.
"After the business entity is clear and the permit is complete, then they are allowed to order SPHP rice. If they do not comply with the provisions, the sanctions are quite severe and the punishment can be up to 5 years in prison. SPHP rice should also not be sold in modern markets," Rizal explained during a review at Setono Betek Market, Kediri City, East Java, July 15.
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language. (system supported by DigitalSiber.id)
