Packed rice checked for contamination
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Govt officials, consumer group testing for traces of methyl bromide, used to kill pests in govt stocks
Public Health Minister Pradit Sinthawanarong ordered food safety watchdogs yesterday to investigate if bags of rice were contaminated with the fumigant methyl bromide, an odourless and colourless gas used to control pests.
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officials and the Medical Sciences Department (MSD) have been told to collect 54 samples at random from bulk-packed rice, sold on the market, to study possible contamination as well as any effects of humidity.
Results of lab tests were expected to be known by Friday, Pradit said. But it was believed the public should face no health risk.
The quality of bulk-packed rice should be frequently monitored, Pradit said. However, bulk-packed rice was not listed as a food that needed to be controlled under the 1979 Food Act.
FDA secretary general Boonchai Somboonsook said his agency had teamed up with Medical Science officials to collect samples of rice last week. Most of the samples were randomly collected from big retail stores.
The agency would check for “contamination” of rice with methyl bromide, which is used to kill weevils and fungi, as well as hazardous substances and pesticides.
Contamination of rice products had not been reported as often as other products such as canned fish, which was why it was not listed as a controlled product under the Food Act.
“The FDA is now considering listing rice products as a ‘controlled product’ under the Food Act, as the agency would be able to monitor the food safety for this product,” Boonchai said.
MSD director-general Niphon Popattanachai said his agency would release the results of lab tests for methyl bromide in the collected samples by Friday.
The Foundation for Consumers has also been studying possible contamination of rice with methyl bromide after collecting 35 samples from the market. The results of its lab tests are also expected by the end of this week.
The pesticide is widely used in rice storage and is able to decompose, but the amount used must not exceed standards set by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the Joint FAO/World Health Organisation Food Standards Programme.
Agriculture Department chief Dumrong Jirasutas has accepted that substances including methyl bromide and phosphine are used to kill weevils and fungi in rice that has been kept in storage. But he said the two substances would not pose a risk for consumers, as they decompose in the air.
“These two substances have been accepted by the FAO and the FDA to use as pesticides to kill insects,” he said.
