Case Of Oplosan Rice Drags PT Food Station, DKI Provincial Government Doesn't Want To Make Sangka Worse

Illustration of rice (Antara-Yulius Satria Wijaya).

JAKARTA - The DKI Jakarta Food, Maritime and Agricultural Security Service (KPKP) has opened its voice about the case of mixing rice on a number of brands circulating in the market. This case also dragged the DKI BUMD PT Food Station Tjipinang Jaya.

Head of the DKI Jakarta KPKP Agency, Hasudungan Sidabalok, admitted that his party did not want to prejudice the alleged involvement of PT Food Station in cases of violating the quality of the rice sold.

"The public is advised to remain careful in buying rice and it is hoped that it will wait for the results of investigations from the authorities regarding the information circulating at this time," Hasudungan told reporters, Monday, July 14.

Regarding indications of violating the quality of rice in modern retail, PT Food Station has also fulfilled the summons of the Criminal Investigation Unit of the National Police to provide information with the possibility of the next summons after the results of the analysis of the examination of the sample by the Food Task Force have been completed.

In addition, the Regional Food Safety Competent Authority of DKI Jakarta Province is currently testing the quality of 50 rice samples from the National Food Agency (Bapanas).

So far, Hasudungan claims that the DKI Provincial Government uses Setra Pulen and Setra Ramos brands produced by PT Food Station Tjipinang Jaya to run cheap or rice-subsidized food programs with premium quality classes.

"Against the two brands, the DKI Jakarta Provincial KPKP Office periodically, at least 3 times a year, takes rice samples at FS warehouses and conducts tests in accredited laboratories to ensure their quality suitability," he explained.

Previously, Minister of Agriculture (Mentan) Andi Amran Sulaiman said that his party found 212 rogue rice producers that did not meet quality, quality and volume standards.

Dari laporan yang diterima pada 10 Juli lalu, kata Amran, proses pemeriksaan terhadap para produsen sudah dimulai aparat kepolisian, dan Kementerian Agricultural (Kementan) terus memantau perkembangan agar deviasi ini tidak berulang di masa mendatang.

He said the mode of violation found included packaging incompatibility, in which it was written 5 kilograms (kg) but only contained 4.5 kg, as well as counterfeiting the premium and medium rice quality categories.

Community losses due to the fraudulent practice are estimated at IDR 99.35 trillion every year, which if allowed can reach IDR 500 trillion to IDR 1,000 trillion in five to ten years.

"Some 86 percent say this is premium even though it is ordinary rice. Then they say medium even though rice is ordinary. What does that mean? 1 kilo can be at a difference of Rp. 2,000 to Rp. 3,000 per kilogram. We exemplify gold, 24 carat gold is written, but in fact it is 18 carats," he said.

The National Police's Food Task Force is currently following up on the Ministry of Agriculture's report regarding the rice supply report. The National Police examined four producers, namely Wilmar Group, PT Food Station Tjipinang Jaya, PT Belitang Panen Raya, and PT Sentosa Utama Lestari ( Japfa Group) as an investigation step.