Rice safety fears in Thailand
THAILAND – A consumer rights watchdog revealed that some packed rice products were tested with a high level of methyl bromide.
Health authorities of Thailand are scrambling to slap strict controls on chemical fumigation of rice and to push packers into upgrading their processing to good manufacturing practices (GMP) after reported findings of adulterated rice sapped public confidence in the country’s food safety standards.
“Over the next five months, we will be nudging operators into adjusting themselves fast,” Public Health Minister Pradit Sintavanarong said yesterday.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will this week ask the Public Health Ministry to issue a regulation limiting the use of three hazardous chemical substances – methyl bromide, hydrogen phosphide and sulfuryl fluoride – in rice products. This would be the first time for Thailand to impose controls on the use of substances in its signature food product.
The FDA will also ask manufacturers to voluntarily comply with the primary GMP, which requires them to ensure the cleanliness of their manufacturing processes to pack rice before launching in the market.
Pradit said that starting on January 1, all bagged rice would be up to GMP standards.
The government was also planning to ban methyl bromide, a pesticide used to kill rice-eating bugs, within two years, he said.
A consumer rights watchdog revealed on Tuesday that some packed rice products were tested with a high level of methyl bromide and some exceeded the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation’s guidelines.
