THE Bureau of Plant Industry on Monday said it is seeking funds worth P1.5 billion to build food safety laboratories across the country.
The laboratory would include a rice sample divider, a moisture analyzer, a quality analyzer, a pesticide and chemical residues detector, a nitrite and nitrate contaminant detector, a microbiological contaminants detector, a food safety unit, and a Philippine Good Agricultural Practices unit, the agency’s director, Gerald Glenn Panganiban, told reporters.
He said that Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. wants at least one food safety lab for each region in the country.
A way to get funding is through loans from the World Bank, Panganiban said, adding that the DA may also push for a higher allocation in the 2027 General Appropriations Act.
Also on Monday, the bureau demonstrated its newly acquired rice quality analyzer, which was bought by realigning its resources.
Panganiban said the equipment evaluates multiple rice quality parameters, such as grain size, percentage broken, milling degree or bran retention rate, average length-width ratio, rates of mixing, wax white, chalkiness, heavy chalkiness, chalkiness degree, yellow rice rate, dark yellow rate, spot rate, and embryo retention rate.
“The primary objective is to support the assessment of rice compliance with applicable Philippine National Standards,” said Panganiban. “The generated data will also serve as technical reference in determining rice quality classification and in identifying possible indicators that may distinguish local from imported rice, subject to validation and correlation with established reference data.”
The analyzer would help the DA protect consumers and legitimate industry players from unfair marketing practices such as rice misclassification, misbranding, and adulteration, Tiu Laurel said.
“It will give the DA stronger teeth against rice adulteration, mislabeling, and other deceptive practices by providing science-based evidence that can stand up in investigations and prosecution of violators,” he noted.
Aside from the rice quality analyzer, the BPI has five ion chromatograph setups in its laboratories in Quezon City, Cebu, Baguio, Davao, and Cagayan de Oro. These detect nitrate and nitrite contaminants in plant-based foods.
