The Philippines is inching closer to implementing more stringent food safety measures for rice which will ensure that the staple, whether locally produced or imported, does not contain heavy metals and high levels of pesticides.
The proposed rules are also seen by high-ranking government officials as a way of limiting rice imports that have skyrocketed in recent months, according to sources privy to the matter.
A draft Department of Agriculture (DA) memorandum circular (MC) seeks to impose more stringent requirements for trading rice. The rules will cover heavy metal content, pesticide residue level, extraneous and filth contaminants, as well as microbiological parameters.
The draft MC, a copy of which was obtained by the BusinessMirror, will put in place “food safety control measures for milled rice that can be used to prevent or eliminate food safety hazard or to reduce it to an acceptable level,” according to a DA presentation.
The MC also wants to protect the public from “unsanitary, unwholesome, misbranded or adulterated food” and “enhance industry and consumer confidence in the food safety regulatory system.”
“This is being done to ensure food safety, especially since a lot of imported rice has entered the [domestic] market,” the source told the BusinessMirror.
Once the draft MC is approved and signed by the DA it shall be applied to both local and imported milled rice.
All rice stakeholders and food business operators, including importers and exporters, are required to comply with the guidelines under the draft MC once it is enforced.
Heavy metals
Under the draft MC, the government would require rice sold in the market, be it locally produced or imported, to comply with maximum level (ML) of heavy metals. These metals include arsenic (for husked rice and polished rice), cadmium (polished rice), and lead (cereal grains).
The draft MC would also enforce the maximum residue limit (MRL) of pesticides in milled rice “for the first time,” another source told the BusinessMirror.
The draft circular outlines rules on extraneous material and filth contaminants, such as bukbok, thumbtacks and wire staples in rice.
“To the extent possible in good manufacturing practice, the product shall be free from objectionable matter,” the draft MC read. “[It should not contain] a hard or sharp foreign object that measures greater than or equal to 7 millimeters in length.”
Rice sold in the Philippines would also be
subjected to microbiological parameters to ensure that it is free from
microorganism “which may represent a hazard to health,”
according to the draft MC.
The draft MC was presented earlier this month to the Philippine Council for Agriculture and Fisheries. However, PCAF stakeholders convinced the DA to defer the approval of the draft MC so it could be subjected to further scrutiny.
The DA, according to sources, initially wanted to approve it right away to limit the entry of rice imports especially since farmers are now harvesting rice.
BPI requirement
The four food safety measures in the draft MC shall be part of the requirements for rice importers who will apply for sanitary and phytosanitary import-clearance (SPS-IC) from the Bureau of Plant Industry.
Interested importers shall secure a Certificate of Analysis (COA) containing compliance with the four requirements from a “competent” authority or accredited laboratory from the country of origin of the rice.
“The COA is in addition to the existing quarantine pre-shipment and post-shipment SPS requirements for milled rice,” the draft circular read.
“Importers shall ensure that the pesticides found in the shipment are contained in the list of registered pesticides for rice in the Philippines,” it added.
Further, the draft MC would require a mandatory audit of the food control measures undertaken by existing countries exporting rice to the Philippines.
“For existing country sources for milled rice identified in Annex 1, the BPI will conduct an audit of the food control measures in the country of origin to evaluate food safety from the stage of production until the export of the commodity and/or into Philippine port of entry,” it read.
The draft MC would also empower the BPI to inspect “at any time” rice conveyances, storage, transport and other handling facilities. This, according to the document, will be done to “ensure that food hygiene and food safety measures are sufficient to prevent the contamination of milled rice.”
As early as last month, DA officials including Agriculture Secretary William D. Dar announced that the government is looking at imposing more stringent food safety measures to limit the entry of imports.
In a news briefing last Tuesday, Dar disclosed that the BPI will inspect rice shipments bound to the Philippines prior to loading to ensure that pertinent food safety guidelines are followed before local importers are given SPS-ICs.
“The issuing institution or agency would like to require that before they issue clearance, they want to see the imported items from the port of origin. They can do that, which one of the measures the BPI will do,” he said. “So that the rice entering the country are really clean and free from foreign materials.”
Image credits: Nonie Reyes