Authorities Ready to Freeze Marketing Permits of Rice Quality Falsifiers Quality control is being tightened to prevent fraud and protect consumers. Rep: Frederikus Dominggus Bata/ Red: Ahmad Fikri Noor

REPUBLICA.CO.ID, PADANG -- The National Food Agency (Bapanas) asserts its readiness to freeze the business licenses of operators falsifying rice quality grades through improper labeling. This step is taken to protect consumers and strengthen price control amid findings of unlabeled rice and suspected quality grade fraud at several monitoring points. Bapanas considers the accuracy of package labels to be key to market control. Mandatory information such as product name, net weight, producer identity, quality grade, production code, registration number, and the Highest Retail Price (HRP) must be clearly stated in accordance with Bapanas Regulation Number 2 of 2023. Laboratory tests form the basis for verifying premium and medium grades, which directly affect the selling price. "Within the agency's regulations on labeling, it is already mentioned that it must state the product name, it must state the net weight... and the HRP," said Andriko Noto Susanto, Deputy for Consumer ...