NFA-7 execs meet with rice retailers

CEBU, Philippines -  The National Food Authority-7 yesterday called the rice retailers in Cebu to an emergency meeting following an incident in Metro Manila where NFA rice was found to have been mixed with commercial rice and sold at a higher price.

Lucy Rosales, NFA-7 information officer, said the retailers have assured that such incident will not happen in Cebu. The retailers also gave assurance to cooperate with the government’s effort to crackdown on unscrupulous traders.

“Next to Manila, gitutukan ang Cebu kay daku man ta diri. That’s why we asked full cooperation from our rice traders nga di na mahitabo diri ang nahitabo sa Manila,” Rosales said.

An inter-agency committee composed of NFA, Department of Trade and Industry, Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, and the National Bureau of Investigation, was formed to monitor the prices and supply of NFA and commercial rice in Cebu.

Zaide Bati-on, chief of the Consumers Welfare Division of the DTI-Cebu, said that the committee also got the commitment of eight big rice traders to cooperate in case their warehouses will be inspected.

Rosales, however, admitted that it would be difficult to determine whether commercial rice is mixed with NFA rice or not because rice have the same color and shape.

“Ang rice man gud kay homogeneous. They have the same color and shape, so inug sagul ana lisud na e-determine kung ang commercial rice gisagulan og NFA rice. Maayo unta kung ang NFA rice pink ang color unya ang commercial rice blue ang color pero di man gud ing-ana,” Rosales added.

Because of this difficulty, Rosales is urging the public to document any illegal act committed by unscrupulous traders.

“Unless they are caught in the act of mixing NFA rice with commercial rice, diha pa nato masakpan,” she added.

Rosales said that they are also making sure that NFA rice is visible at the local government units since its target market is the low income families.

NFA rice is still sold at P27 per kilo while NFA’s middle rice is sold at P32 per kilo. These are available in various Bigasan sa Palengke in major markets in Cebu.  (FREEMAN)