Kidapawan LGU warns retailers selling fake rice from China

KIDAPAWAN CITY – The Kidapawan City government has warned rice retailers and wholesalers here caught selling fake rice from China that appropriate sanctions would be imposed against them. City Mayor Joseph Evangelista said the report on the imported fake rice from China being sold in some establishments in Davao City has alarmed him and the residents of the city. He said he has already tasked the Local Price Monitoring Council (LPCC) to monitor and ‘keep an eye’ on rice retailers to check whether there is fake rice from China being sold in their stores. Meantime, the National Food Authority (NFA) in North Cotabato has already started its inspection of rice being sold in different public markets and other establishments in the province. NFA-Cotabato manager Agerico Baquiran said they tapped the Grains Retailers Confederation (GRECON) to help them check as to whether imported rice from China had penetrated the markets here. Baquiran said the order to conduct strict monitoring and careful surveillance had come from the national headquarters. Earlier, GRECON Cotabato president Carmelito Bacus told Baquiran and the city government here that none among their members are into selling fake rice from China. Studies showed that eating three bowls of fake rice, made from sweet potatoes with synthetic resins or plastic, is like eating a bag of cellophane.