NFA suspends accreditation of 20 rice retailers over unfair practices

More than 20 rice retailers in Camarines Sur province had their accreditations suspended by the National Food Authority in July for various offenses.

The NFA said the offenses ranged from selling NFA rice at high prices to mixing NFA rice in higher-priced commercial rice, GMA Bicol's Kaye Botastas reported Friday.



Some retailers were also suspended for not selling NFA rice even if they still had stocks available.

"Binubuhos yung bigas doon sa commercial rice. It is really (a) grave violation... Automatic cancellation yun ng accreditation," said NFA Camarines Sur provincial manager Edna de Guzman.

According to the NFA, its teams caught the retailers during surprise inspections. It noted such violations may result in the suspension or cancellation of NFA accreditation.

"May mga explanation din... Karamihan sa napag-agree-han na decision is indefinite suspension," de Guzman said.

There are more than 400 rice retailers in Camarines Sur.

Following the inspections, the NFA Camarines Sur said it will be stricter in dealing with retailers, especially now that prices of rice are threatening to go up.

Presently, a kilo of well-milled NFA rice costs P32, while a kilo of regular NFA rice costs P22. — Joel Locsin/JDS, GMA News