After ‘fake rice,’ Davao City monitoring ‘fake noodles‘

After a row over so-called fake rice, health officials in Davao City are verifying reports of fake noodles.

The Davao City Health Office received a sample of suspected fake rice noodles from an official in Barangay Calinan, GMA Davao reported Friday.

City health officials have submitted the sample to the Department of Science and Technology for analysis.

Also, the City Health Office formed a group to investigate the supposedly fake rice noodles. It has sought help as well from the Bureau of Customs in its investigation.

"Kailangan namin yung brand name, packaging mismo para po maipadala po namin sa tamang laboratoryo," said CHO sanitation inspector Robert Oconer.

So far, the CHO has not received any report of anyone getting sick from eating rice noodles.

But it has asked residents to report to it any indication of noodles that are odorless, mold-less and do not expire after a long time.

Earlier, city officials had investigated claims of so-called synthetic rice being sold in some stores.

On Thursday, National Food Authority representatives and Davao City police inspected several markets in the city to check for fake rice.

They burned some samples to determine if they were fake.

"Ginagawa natin ito in order to validate. Titingnan natin ang public markets natin [upang] maka-create tayo ng awareness sa ating grains retailer na talagang binabantayan nila ang ating public market," said NFA regional manager Dianne Silva.

Special investigation task force head Senior Superintendent Aaron Aquino also asked all provincial and city police directors to conduct random sampling.

Rice traders in the city supported the move, even as the NFA provided tips on buying rice:

For its part, the National Food Authority reassured Davao Region residents there is still no sign for now that such rice has entered the region.

NFA provincial manager Virgilio Alerta said their initial inspection found no "conclusive" evidence of the so-called synthetic rice in Region 11 markets.

"Wala pa talaga itong conclusive evidence dahil sa ngayon, tumutulong na nga ang ating pulisya sa paghahanap kung saan talaga ang source (ng sinasabing fake rice)," Alerta said.

The reassurance came after the Food Development Center came out with the results of its test on a sample of the foam-like rice.

It said the results showed the rice was contaminated with dibutyl phthalate and is not considered synthetic rice.

For now, the NFA said Davao City police continue to gather leads on where the contaminated rice came from.

"Sa Davao City wala ... pa tayong na-establish na dito talaga sa Davao City yung retailer. Meron kaming audit trail na nagawa last conference. Meron tayong audit trail na sinusundan and so far wala tayong retailer sa Davao City na nakita. Mostly outside Davao City," Davao City police spokesperson Senior Inspector Milgrace Driz said. — Joel Locsin/LBG, GMA News