TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Head of Environments Subdirectory at Bekasi Police Special Crimes Investigation Unit, Sr. Adj. Comr. Adi Vivid said that the Jakarta Police will be conducting an investigation into the suspected distribution of plastic rice in Bekasi.
Adi said that the Jakarta Police have begun to take samples from distributors in the area to be subjected to laboratory testing - one from the reported distributor, one from the claimant who reported the case, and another from another vendor.
"They all bought their rice from the same source," said Adi at the Jakarta Police on Thursday, May 21, 2015.
Adi said that so far, he has not detected any difference in both taste and texture of the rice from all of the samples, before adding that the result of the laboratory testing will only be released in three days time. In the meantime, Bekasi Police looking into the possibility that the tainted rice could be distributed in other areas.
"To date, all reports seem to have come from Bekasi," said Adi.
Previously, a laboratory testing done by Sucofindo in Cibitung, Bekasi Regency, concluded that the rice that they tested is tainted with a synthetic chemical known as plasticer. "We even found traces of plasticizer," said the lead researcher for Sucofindo, Adisam ZN on Thursday.
MAYA NAWANGWULAN