Chinese rice imports toxic?

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines will continue importing rice from China despite reports Chinese authorities found high levels of cadmium in rice products from Guangzhou City.

The Philippines will import 25,000 metric tons (MT) of rice from China under the country-specific quota of the minimum access volume (MAV) of 163,000 MT.

Department of Agriculture National Rice Program Coordinator Dante Delima assured the public they would monitor imports from China. He said these imports would be screened by Customs for cadmium content.

But he said it would be difficult to monitor rice smuggled into the country. “This is the reason why we have to be self-sufficient in rice.”

Delima said chemicals used in farm inputs may have caused excessive cadmium content in 44.44% of rice products from Guangzhou. Cadmium poisoning can cause digestive, respiratory and bone problems.

On the upside, he said this development gives the Philippines “a competitive edge” in the world market. “We can produce safer food,” he noted.

However, he said, “for now, our concern here is not market advantage but the safety of our consumers.”

The Philippines intends to export more than 100,000 MT of premium rice to various destinations such as Hong Kong, Macau, Middle East, South Africa, US and Europe this year.

It aims to attain an exportation level of around 300,000 MT by 2016 to match the 350,000 MT of foreign rice entering the country via the MAV. – Rappler.com