DAVAO CITY – City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte during his program Sunday, warned fake rice importers to stop importing products that may harm the consumers.
“Do not do that because I will definitely let you eat those rice. If you have 200 tons of fake rice, I will let you eat that within 24 hours,” Duterte said.
The alleged fake rice was said to be a mixture of sweet potatoes and synthetic resin and is being mixed to regular milled rice before being distributed to the market.
Synthetic resin or plastic can cause severe abdominal pain, even death, when consumed.
“Rice have different properties from plastic. It can boil down into your sytem, it’s deleterious,” Duterte said.
Duterte asks everyone to cooperate and encourages the police to investigate the issue “but I do not want them to go inside the pier.”
According to reports, the fake rice has already reached the markets of India, Indonesia and Vietnam.
Since the Philippines gets a big portion of imported rice from Vietnam, with 300,000 metric tons imported in April 2015, there have been fears that the fake rice has reached the country.
However, concerned government agencies clarified that the fake rice is not being sold in the country.(davaotoday.com)
