Recently, the issue of synthetic rice has been a very popular issue among Indonesians. This issue of synthetic rice firstly emerged from Dewi Nurizza Septiani (29th), an entrepreneur in Mustikajaya, Bekasi.

She wrote on her Facebook that the rice was different from the previous rice that she bought. It seems to be mixed with plastic substance. She also spread the photos to her Instagram and reported to the radio in Bekasi.

Sumber

"I have spread the photos to my social media, Facebook and Instagram, and I have also reported it to the radio" she said in her eating house (May 19th, 2015).

It is believed that the synthetic rice is imported from China. According to Korean media, The Weekly Hong Kong, The rice was made of potatoes, yams and plastic and it is free to sell in the market. However, further inquiry should be taken to prove the validity of this news.

To confirm the issue of synthetic rice, Commerce Minister, Rachmat Gobel, stated that there was also a video in social media that illustrated the procedural steps on how to produce synthetic rice. In contrast, after being investigated, it is ,in fact, the procedure of producing plastic pellets.

In an event in Bekasi mayor’s office, Thursday (25/5), the head of Laboratory Testing Sucofindo, Adisam NZ, announced the results of two samples provided by Bekasi Commerce Department. It was discovered that the samples of rice are combined with polyvinyl chloride, a chemical substance commonly contained in plastic products such as cables, pipes pralon (PVC) and so on. The chloride mixture composition is as many as 6.76% of 250 grams after the identification.

Then, Andi Amran Sulaiman, Agriculture Minister, affirmed that the laboratory tests by the police, the Food and Drug Control Agency (BPOM), Ministry of Trade and Ministry of Agriculture denoted negative results of plastic substances from the rice samples. The samples were taken Laboratory Testing Sucofindo.

Furthermore, he pointed out that the trading of synthetic rice was unprofitable due to the expensive price. The price was approximately Rp.12,000 per kilogram, while the natural rice was Rp.7,300 per kilogram.

This argument was supported by Hasanudin Abdurakhman who led a Japanese company which manufacturesd plastic materials. He assumed that plastic rice was unreasonable in terms of production and economy.

" It will be very expensive because of the expensiveness of the raw material and the demand of high technology. Furthermore, plastic substances cannot be digested and it is easily tasted by the tongue" he said.

Although, the result from the laboratory tests of the police, the Food and Drug Control Agency (BPOM), Ministry of Trade and Ministry of Agriculture denoted negative results, this issue has remained a massive terror to Indonesians because the result from Laboratory Testing Sucofindo was positive and there has not been further clarification from Sucofindo untill now.

The ministry of agriculture affirmed that his office had conducted daily market check with respect to the issue post-haste.

"We have already checked markets, and the case is now in the hands of the police," he said.

Writer : Harmila S.S ( Internal HRD)

As one form of human effort in facilitating the work to meet the needs, human never stop evolving (V/mengembangkan) technology through theirconsciousness (N/kesadaran) in everything related to the fulfillment (N/pemenuhan) of primary, secondary, and tertiary needs.So that the technology penetrated (V/menembus) in some areas that are closely related to human needs. The more diverse (Adj/beragam) type of human needs, the faster the rate of technology developes.

The primary need is the top priority of every human need, one of the primary needs is food. In response to the food, a country faces a challenge that is known for food resilience. A country can be said to achieve the goals to food resilience (N/ketahanan) if it has been able to meet the three pillars of food resilience. They are the availability of food,the affordability (N/kemampuan untuk mencapai)to food, and the quality of the food.

The first pillar of food resilience lies on the availability of food.Food availability describes the sense of how the ability of a state to provide sufficient (Adj/cukup) food for its people, from national to sub-national levels (e.g. regional, district, community, etc). This pillar has to be backed-up (V/dikuatkan) by the ability a country to make use of their potential land and resource in producing food.The second pillar is the affordability of food.This gives a sense of how society's ability to get the food that has been provided by the state.It is strongly associated with economic condition. The third is the quality of the food.It gives the sense of food that will be consumed influence people's health.

At present humans are facing great challenges in the quality and quantity of food. When viewed in the perspective of agricultural cultivation, the quality and quantity of food decrease.None other happens more than the negative impact of environmental degradation caused by the utilization of technologies that are not environmentally friendly. This sort of (kind of) technology has increased the environmental contamination that requires changing plant physiology activity in order to prevent life from destruction (N/kerusakan). Change is exactly what causes the food situation throughout the world. It does not conform (V/menyesuaikan) to what is expectedto.

One of problems that can be put to the floor is BioEnergy. As one of the efforts to create an environmentally friendly technology, various countries such as Brazil, US, and other countries in Europe have been working out to increase the use of plant as a source of energy called BioEnergy. This is a significant progress in the energy combined with ecological use as well as an irony to food security and sustainability because the plant is used as raw material to create energy in which plant in the same time becomes the core (N/inti) of human life in the world. Therefore BioEnergy is a threat (N/ancaman)against human food resilience in the future.

However, the scientists in this field are still trying to minimize the amount of losses that will come to the manufacture of new energy technologies. By calculating the usefulness and risks, it can create a variety of new technologies that can reduce the negative impact of technology invention.

Written by : Muh. Khaeran Ali (Geophysics- Hasanuddin University)

Picture : www.igd.com