To eat or not to eat Thai rice: What people say
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The government's rice-pledging scheme has been drawing a lot of comment, both in cyberspace and the real world. Some people fear that the rice they eat every day is tainted by harmful chemicals - while others scoff at these rumours.
Here are some comments we gathered from Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus:
Chirawat Sitarachiyanon said although a lot of people believe there are harmful chemicals in rice, he personally isn’t worried. However, he did say he was going to cut down on his rice consumption.
Nunchavit Chaiyapalsopon said he would only eat rice that is cooked at home, and only buy well-known brands at department stores.
Pradit Ph said he was not worried, as he always eats rice grown at his father’s farm that is milled locally.
Piyawan Anan says she usually cooks rice at home and it is always organic brown rice. “Even though it is more expensive than normal rice, I’m willing to pay for it because I think it’s safer,” she said.
Apisil Trungannont said he was not very confident about the rice sold nowadays, because he doesn’t know how it was produced and where it was stocked. He said that for the time being, he was willing to purchase well-known brands sold in large supermarkets instead of opting for non-branded rice.
Yamashita Miharu, who lives in the United States, said she still has confidence in Thai rice and would not stop eating it because it tasted better than rice from Mexico or India. “But my friend in Australia has stopped eating Thai rice for the time being and has decided to go for locally grown rice,” she said.
Sasiwan Newchantug said she always eats rice from her hometown – Nakhon Ratchasima, because she is confident about its quality.
Google Plus user Anthana Yajantha said she wasn’t that confident about the rice sold in the capital, so she only consumes rice from her hometown. She will also only eat rice cooked at home.
Meanwhile, Mangkunzo Ismalaeng said the government should take charge and examine the rice stockpiles to ensure they are free of chemical substances and not harmful to people.
@iwhale tweeted that the government should encourage small-time farmers who focus more on quality than quantity, while @HuiUnited said he has always bought locally-grown rice as he believes in giving farmers what they want for their hard work.
“I love the idea of farmers setting the price of rice themselves. If a farmer is happy, then we get to eat good quality rice,” @HuiUnited said.
Yet, despite all these fears, some social-media users have accused TV host Suttipong Thamawuit of causing a ruckus about contaminated rice because he wants to promote his own brand of “Khao Khunnatham” organic rice.
Suttipong defended himself, saying his firm only produced 40 to 50 tonnes of rice, which was far too little to compete with big brands. He also told the press he did not mean to cause any harm when he posted a message saying that certain brands of rice were contaminated.
Deputy Commerce Minister Yanyong Phuangrach, meanwhile, has threatened to take legal action against anybody claiming that rice under the government’s pledging scheme is tainted with harmful substances.
The Agriculture Department has also declared that all brands of rice are safe, including those from government-contracted granaries. Director-general Damrong Jirasuthas explained, meanwhile, that dead rats found in some warehouses had been killed by rat poison, not fumigation.
