REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA - Rice imported by Indonesia has no trace of the dangerous substance of arsenic. Consumer Reports indicates that Thailand rice in US contains worrisome number of arsenic of 2.7 until 3.9 microgram per 45 gram rice. 

Indonesia has not imported rice from Thailand, Director General of Foreign Trade Deddy Saleh said. But at this stage, Indonesia has only planned to import one million tonnes of rice from Thailand.

Saleh authorized state-owned logistics firm Bulog to import the Thailand rice. He assured that the government would conduct tight verification starts from its origin country.

"Our surveyors will not allow any trace of arsenic in our imported rice," he said on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Executive Director of Bulog, Sutarto Alimoeso, said the National Drug and Food Monitoring Agency (BPOM) in East Kalimantan had tested the sample of Thailand rice imported in 2011. "We did not detect any trace of arsenic," Alimoeso said.

Bulog so far had not imported rice from Thailand or any other country, Alimoeso said. He claimed that Bulog still focused on the absorption of local rice production.

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