Concerns about the safety of a ten-year-old produce
In light of concerns about aflatoxin and chemical contamination, the Commerce Ministry plans to sell decade-old rice and the Office of the Consumer Protection Board ( OCPB) and the Food and Drug Administration ( FDA ) are being asked to inspect the quality of the decadent grain.
Commerce Minister Phumtham Wechayachai’s rice-eating prank, which was launched earlier this week to boost customer confidence in grain as part of the rice-pledging scheme, is the subject of the contact.
Since the Yingluck Shinawatra government, it has been kept in Surin territory stores.
Previously, a rice professional in Surin challenged Mr Phumtham’s plan to bid the grain for usage. The secretary stated that he anticipated a sale of 200 to 400 million baht.
Consumer protection watchdogs must act and check the safety and quality of the corn that has been stored for ten years, according to Wirangrong Dabbaransi, the Network of Colleges for Reform’s head on Facebook on Wednesday.
She claimed that Mr. Phumtham’s rice-eating program could never guarantee the safety or quality of the rice despite the fact that it appears to be in” great condition” because it has gone through several cleaning cycles for more than ten years.
The corn may have gone through 129 cleaning cycles if it had been required to be cleaned each month.
According to reports that the rice was washed 15 times before cooking and served to Mr. Phumtham and others who accompanied him,” Washing it 15 times ca n’t get rid of chemical substances, and this is not to mention aflatoxin,” she said.
Bacterial pollution can cause aflatoxins to become present in food in warm and humid environments.
She claimed that the president’s plan to sell corn for use risks harming the country’s reputation and putting it on the international stage.
If he has complete trust in the rice’s quality and safety, Ms. Wirangrong pressed him to export it with a quality assurance.
The rice should be used instead of being drunk in the production of alcohol, according to Assoc Prof. Pantipa Pongpiachan, a teacher from the instructors of agriculture at Chiang Mai University.
She claimed that the presence of bugs in the grain indicates that the grains were not properly stored, and that the cooked rice’s appearance, which has a yellowish color at the end, indicates that it may have harbored bacteria.
” A evaluation using the beautiful greenish-yellow bright technique will yield at least one toxin. The toxin can endure heat up to 250C, so the boiling water that cooks the rice ca n’t destroy it, only some bacteria”, she wrote.
According to Assoc Prof. Pantipa, food laboratory run by a number of colleges, the Livestock Department, and secret food labs can conduct tests for polluted food.
Similar issues about allicin that may induce cancer in decade-old corn were echoed by Associate Professor Veerachai Phuttawong of Kasetsart University’s instructors of liberal arts and sciences.
On Wednesday, Thai Pakdee Party leader Warong Dechgitvigrom expressed doubts about the quality of the rice, pointing out that three rounds of selling had been conducted but that the winning bidders not arrived to obtain the goods.
The third round of buying, which was scheduled in January this time, was cancelled one day before the bid obedience.
In response, Mr. Phumtham went to the inventory on March 14 and May 6 to take the cooked rice in front of the media.
Dr. Warong even claimed that Mr. Phumtham put the brakes on the third round of bids to get a publicity stunt.
In light of accusations that Mr. Phumtham was trying to “whitewash” the rice-pledging system, Mr. Phumtham remained defiant on Wednesday.
He urged his critics to avoid dramatizing the situation, claiming that he was attempting to control the rice’s old stocks, including top officials, the media, and rice traders.
Within seven times, public health minister Somsak Thepsuthin will request a report from the Department of Medical Sciences to assess the quality of the grain. Because this is a new one, he said,” I do n’t know how to comment on this matter,” he said.
Yongyuth Thammawut, the head of the department’s health sciences division, claimed that the department is unable to independently gather the rice samples. The ministry typically conducts assessments on demand, but it has never received any calls in this direction.