Piñol says weevil-infested rice safe to eat after washing, no need to fumigate

A farmer himself, Agriculture Secretary Manny Piñol on Tuesday insisted there was nothing wrong with eating rice infested with weevil or bukbok, saying there is no need for fumigation and simply washing the staple would do the trick.

"Serve me that bukbok rice, I will eat it!" Piñol said in a Headstart interview on ANC.

"I'm a farmer. Bukbok is as much a reality to grains as black ants are to fruits. Anong problema ng bukbok? Binubukbok naman talaga 'yung palay eh, binubukbok naman talaga 'yung bigas," he continued.

Piñol said the public should only be worried if the bukbok on the imported rice have already grown to an alarming level.

"Ang problema lang natin dyan, kung talagang maraming-marami na 'yung bukbok na inubos na ng bukbok 'yung bigas. But if it's only 10 lonely bukboks crawling over a sack of rice, why should we be alarmed about that?"

"You don't even have to fumigate. You only have to wash it," Piñol added.

Piñol, nonetheless, said that he was not trying to downplay the fact that the imported rice at the Subic and Albay ports should not have been infested with bukbok, and that suppliers should be held accountable.

"Because this is imported rice that we are paying with people's money. And that's a different story from whether rice contaminated with bukbok could be eaten or not."

Piñol said the ports should not accept the goods if it could be proven that the pest came from the point of origin of the imported rice, and did not just get infected once in the country.

Reports of bukbok or weevil emerged last week after the National Food Authority conducted its investigation at the Subic Bay seaport terminal.

Palace and lawmakers have asked the NFA to explain the infestation, while others also called for the abolition of the agency. — MDM, GMA News