lazy journalists, Internet users racist and opportunistic politicians almost convinced the world that Indonesia was facing a plastic rice alert.
On May 5, a YouTube account called LiveLeak Canal uploaded a video 2.29 minutes awkwardly titled "fake rice from plastic in China" (www.youtube.com/watch? . v = haSsXxxQBSo) the noisy video shows what appears to be a nylon polyamide plant manufacturing plastic pellets, possibly from recycled materials There was nothing. - apart from the misleading title and description. - from suggest that it was fake rice
More nonsense uploaded by LiveLeak channel includes a video titled "NFL Draft Nerves Causes baby squirrel stress Eat" - showing a squirrel nibbling breakfast cereals and to be fed the milk that player selections for the National American Football League were announced. other clips show on channel violent accidents and assaults. LiveLeak is hardly a reliable source of news and information.
But some people are dumb. And many people unfortunately like an excuse to criticize China. On May 13, a YouTube channel named Destry Z re-uploaded the video "fake rice plant", giving it the title: " AWAS !!!! Beras Negara Palsu buatan China !!! (BEWARE !!!! False rice made in China !!!). "The video soon gained over 392,000 views and was re-downloaded by dozens of Indonesian YouTubers. The clips have attracted many derogatory comments about China, although some users have stressed just a regular factory plastic.
On 15 May, the Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI) said it has not received public complaints about the fake rice. Nevertheless, legal responsibility of business and complaints YLKI Sularsi called the Ministry of Commerce, government agencies and the public to be on the lookout for imports of counterfeit food products.
On May 16, the Harian Terbit newspaper published an article warning that China was producing fake rice. The report urges Indonesians to be vigilant, although she admitted that there was no certainty that the plastic rice was distributed in Indonesia.
YouTube video screenshot on the LiveLeak channel of an alleged plastic rice plant in China
The same day, Global TV MNC Media broadcast YouTube video and claimed the factory was making fake rice - despite not having any evidence to prove his allegation. Later, Metro TV aired the same video, saying it showed a counterfeit rice plant.
All this "new" fake rice filtered through the community. On May 18, a seller of the West Java city of Bekasi rice porridge, Dewi Septiani (29), said she had unwittingly bought and consumed the plastic rice.
She bought six liters of rice May 13 Tanah Merah with a traditional market supplier Rp.8,000 per liter. She said that the rice does not turn into actual porridge, but instead became congealed, making her, her younger sister and his nephew sick after eating. After watching YouTube clips and news reports, it assumes that they must have used synthetic rice.
The police interrogated the seller and one of its suppliers, and closed his shop. The shop porridge Dewi was also closed pending investigations. May 20, samples of rice - including some cooked by Dewi - were taken by police for tests, conducted separately by public certification company Sucofindo, the National Police, the National Drug Control Agency and food (BPOM), the Ministry trade and Ministry of Agriculture.
Sucofindo was quick to announce the results of its tests on May 21, saying the rice contained traces of polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a synthetic compound that is usually used to make pipes. Specifically, he had found traces of three types of plasticizers used in PVC production: benzylbutyl (BBP), 2-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) and diisononyl phthalate (DINP). He did not indicate the percentage of synthetic materials he had found.
Meanwhile, the lazy journalists found an old news article online from South Korea in 2011, saying the rice made of plastic was being "massively" sold in China. The report, citing unnamed media sources in Singapore, said: "plastic rice is made by forming potatoes and sweet potatoes in the form of rice-like, then adding industrial plastics." He warned that "eat three plastic bowls of rice is the same as eating a vinyl bag."
These "facts" quickly made their way into the reports of Indonesian and Malaysian media. Before Sucofindo published its results, the division of the Jakarta regional news network hip city Coconuts.co proclaimed May 20 "plastic rice is real, as shown in this video of his production in a Chinese factory." Oh. An accompanying article on http://jakarta.coconuts.co as "this video at least confirms that the plastic rice is a real thing." Utter rubbish.
On 24 May, the Minister of Internal Affairs Tjahjo Kumolo, a longtime loyalist of former President Megawati Sukarnoputri, said the "distributor" fake rice can be tempting to treason or sabotage to bring down the government.
He requested the State Intelligence Agency investigate the case.
There were unfounded that a girl who fell ill allegations in the capital of North Sumatra Medan had eaten plastic rice. "A 10-year-old girl was taken to the hospital ... after suffering a swollen belly caused by contaminated rice consumption by synthetic materials," cried The Jakarta Post . The same newspaper reported that several tons of synthetic rice were confiscated in the province of Papua.
Two politicians who have called for calm and good sense of fear were President Joko Widodo and Jakarta Governor Basuki 'Ahok' Tjahaja Purnama.
On May 26, the national police chief in General Badrodin Haiti, after meeting with the president and other senior officials, announced that all other tests were negative, so there was never plastic rice. He advised the public to stop panic on the issue.
So why did Sucofindo come with different results? Badrodin said Sucofindo perhaps using different methods of analysis or contaminated equipment.
head BPOM Sparingga Roy confirmed that his agency had found no synthetic polymers or heavy metals in rice. He said international network of food safety authorities of the World Health Organization informed BPOM there were no recent cases of synthetic rice in other countries.
Trade Minister Rachmat Gobel said his counterparts in China and Malaysia had assured him that there was no fake rice distribution in their countries.
Firman Subagyo legislator, member of the Golkar Party, said he suspected the false rice hoax was orchestrated by "food mafia" seeking to take advantage of public concern before the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan which begins about 18 June this year. He said the police should consider whether Dewi, the seller of the slurry had a hidden agenda to make its claims on the plastic rice.
Dewi said it was simply a concerned mother who does not intend to scare people, but they just wanted to be careful when buying rice.
It is understandable that people were quick to suspect China could be made of fake rice. China does not have a record of sterling in terms of food production. in 2008, at least six Chinese children died after drinking milk powder adulterated with melamine. - An industrial chemical used in plastics and insecticides
plastic rice afraid of Indonesia distracted the media and the public are more important issues, such as the police dropping investigate corruption in their deputy chief, Budi Gunawan, and a court in Jakarta trying to throw a massive case of alleged corruption involving former tax director general Hadi Poernomo.
It never hurts to be on the lookout for counterfeit or contaminated food. It does not hurt to think twice when the media present unverified rumors as facts.