"Until now, 20 witnesses have been grilled in connection with the plastic rice controversy that has been raging among the public since May 2015," Head of the Bekasi Police Resort Senior Commissioner Daniel Tifaona remarked here on Thursday.
The witnesses include Dewi Septiani, a Bekasi resident, who published the news about the fake plastic rice on social media.
Another witness Syifa Faradila is a Dakta Radio broadcaster who was the first person who spread the news in the mass media.
The police also questioned those in charge of Sucofindos laboratory and the officials of the Bekasi industrial, trade and cooperatives office.
The plastic rice case is being handled by the National Police Headquarters, although the questioning process is being carried out by the Bekasi police.
The government has arrived at a conclusion that there is no synthetic rice containing plastic substances in circulation and has appealed to the people to remain calm.
"We concluded that there is no plastic rice, so the people are urged to not become restless. If they still find something suspicious, they are requested to report it to us, so that we can look into it. We request the public to remain calm," National Police Chief General Badrodin Haiti noted during a press conference on May 26, 2015.
He held the press conference along with Agriculture Minister Amran Sulaiman, Trade Minister Rachmat Gobel, and Chief of the Food and Drug Supervisory Agency (BPOM) Roy A. Sparringa at the Presidential Office.
Synthetic rice suspected to be made of plastic materials is not in circulation in Indonesia, and the people need not worry about it, Minister Sulaiman stated.
"I reiterate that synthetic rice suspected to be made of plastic substances is not in circulation in Indonesia," he emphasized recently.
Sulaiman remarked that the people should not be afraid to buy rice in the market.
"The laboratory tests of the police, the Food and Drug Control Agency (BPOM), the Trade Ministry, and the Agriculture Ministry have shown negative results for plastic substances in the controversial rice samples from Bekasi in West Java," he affirmed.
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Editor: Aditia Maruli Radja
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