REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA - Imported rice from Thailand allegedly contains a dangerous substance of arsenic. A researcher at Indonesian Center for Rice Research (ICRR) of the Ministry of Agriculture, Bram Kusbiantoro, said the arsenic could be from the soil.

He said on Wednesday that arsenic in the imported rice from Thailand must be analyzed first, especially the soil. Consumer Reports indicates that Thailand rice in US contains worrisome number of arsenic, which is 2.7 until 3.9 microgram per 45 gram rice. Indonesia, on the other hands, agreed to import a million tonnes of rice from Thailand.

Kusbiantoro explained that ICRR was coordinating with Center of Post Harvest to analyze the arsenic on several kinds of rice in Indonesia. "So far, rice in Java is free from arsenic," he said.

However, he said that there was no agreement on the limit of arsenic found in rice. National Standardization Board is still discussing the matter. Internationally, the limit will be discussed in the upcoming Codex meeting.

Codex Alimentarius Commision (CAC) is formed by World Health Organization (WHO) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).  Codex is aimed to draft the international food standard as a reference to develop national food standard.

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