Home   >   Agriculture   >   Bureau of Standards says local rice is free of contamination

Bureau of Standards says local rice is free of contamination

By on February 11, 2016
Library picture

Library picture

Belize City, BELIZE. Thursday, February 11, 2016. The government of Belize through the Bureau of Standards has sharply refuted claims from a Belize City businessman that local rice contains aflatoxins and could be dangerous for human consumption.

Jack Charles of Extra House made the outlandish claim on Wednesday, prompting the swift response from government to categorically deny all of the assertions made.

Firstly, the official statement says that the businessman in question is not a competent authority on testing of basic food items in Belize.

Then the official statement goes on to say that the same evidence that Charles presents to try and bolster his claim of contamination, serves to confirm just the opposite and that none of the rice samples analyzed contain any detectable levels of aflatoxins.

Therefore, based on the Jack Charles test results, the Belize Bureau of Standards says that local rice poses no threat whatsoever to human health.

The Bureau’s release concludes by saying that government is committed to ensuring food safety and health in Belize and categorically rejects any suggestion that they are not so committed.

The statement says “it is regrettable that the commercial interests of one individual, veiled under the guise of food safety concerns, is being used in an attempt to erode the confidence in food safety which the people of Belize now enjoy.”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

CAPTCHA Image

*