Thai Jasmine, Hom Ma Li rice: New crop or rotting rice?

"Atas" Sinkies who swear by buying only Thai Jasmine/Hom Ma Li rice with the label "New Crop" ought to do a rethink after reading the article below. It's a common pratice among rice millers and exporters all over the world to mix so-called "new crop" with "old crop" in order to increase their profit margins.

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New technique to turn decaying rice to safe and quality rice discovered

Thai PBS, December 2, 2014

A rice miller in Phichit province has successfully turned decaying rice grains back to freshness with no smell but safe for consuming.

This could be an alternative for the government to store rice for a long period .

Mr Prinya Thammapornpilas, an operator of Jitsermchai rice mill in Phichit, said he has discovered an effective treatment method to turn rice grains stored for a long time and are decaying and smelly back to be good grains and eatable with safety for those who favour eating old rice grains.

Calling his technique an ozone treatment, he said he would put the smelly and decaying old rice grains into tanks.

The old rice in the tank will then be ventilated through air flow from fan to remove dust from the grains.

After finishing the first ventilation and fanning step, the old rice will be put into another tank for drying with ozone to increase oxygen in the grains for 20-30 minutes.

This step will help to eliminate the smell from grains.

The next step will allow air to flow through all the grains to eliminate the ozone smell.
This step will eliminate the smell and turn the old and smelly rice to freshness and safe for eating again.

He said his mill has a capacity to treat four tons of rice grains an hour at a cost of 800-1,000 baht per ton.

He said this treatment technique will be an alternative for the government to improve quality of huge rice stocks which are decaying before releasing them into the market.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/new-technique-turn-decaying-rice-safe-quality-rice-discovered

Rice checking reveals only 10% of total 17 million tons meet quality specs

Rice checking reveals only 10% of total 17 million tons meet quality specs

December 8, 2014

The checking of the huge government rice stockpiles has been completed with result showing only 10% of the huge 17 million tons of rice grains being up to quality.

Commerce minister Gen Chatchai Sarikallaya disclosed Monday morning that of the 17 million tons of grains inspected by the committee headed by M.L. Panadda Diskul, only three million tons are still in good quality and up to the specified standard.

However the rest 14 million tons are below standard, 700,000 tons are decaying, and 200,000 tons are missing from warehouses.

The finding will be forwarded to Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-ocha to find those responsible for legal actions, he said.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/rice-checking-reveals-10-total-17-million-tons-meet-quality-specs

Re: Rice checking reveals only 10% of total 17 million tons meet quality specs

A lot of stuff you read from Thai news are not real especially in this time of Thai history

Re: Rice checking reveals only 10% of total 17 million tons meet quality specs

Songkham said:

A lot of stuff you read from Thai news are not real especially in this time of Thai history

Click to expand...

Warped logic.

Did you read my second post? Why would Gen Chatchai Sarikallaya, a cabinet minister who is also an army general tarnish his country's reputation? If you are selling your wares, will you announce to the public that only 10% of your goods are of good quality?

People behind rice scheme will be sued to cover losses, Prayut says

People behind rice scheme will be sued to cover losses, Prayut says

The Nation December 20, 2014 1:00 am

The government will take legal action against people deemed responsible for the Bt680 billion in estimated losses from the rice price-pledging scheme, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said yesterday.

The PM said that even after the remaining 17 million tonnes of rice in the government stockpile were sold, losses would amount to some Bt680 billion.

"Legal action will be taken, particularly involving the Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission. Both criminal and civil action will be taken, and compensation for damages will be sought," Prayut said.

He said the Commerce Ministry would calculate the final amount of damages.

"We don't know the exact figure now because the Commerce Ministry is [still] selling the rice in the government stock."

The prime minister said that of the 17 million tonnes of rice remaining when the post-coup administration started, only 2.35 million were up to standard. About 700,000 tonnes was in a bad condition while the remainder was of poor quality.

Prayut spoke to the media after chairing a National Rice Policy Committee meeting.

He said the government would attempt to sell all rice in the stockpile within three years but he was concerned that many prospective buyers might not be interested.

He said the government was aware that expediting rice sales could lead to a price decrease.

The government is spending more than Bt2 billion a month renting warehouses to store rice bought under the scrapped pledging scheme, he said.

But the government would attempt to maintain Thailand's status as the world's No.1 rice exporter, following Vietnam's announcement earlier this week of its plan to become the top exporter.

"We will not focus on quantity only - there must be quality too," he said. "We aim to sell at high prices. All the parties involved must work together."

Yesterday, Thailand and China signed a memorandum of understanding at Government House for the sale of two million tonnes of Thai rice to China.

Meanwhile, the National Anti-Corruption Commission is expected to decide early next year whether to pursue a case against former commerce minister Boonsong Teriyapirom over alleged irregularities involving the sale of rice, NACC President Panthep Klanarongran said.

Panthep said he had urged the investigation committee, chaired by Vicha Mahakun, to expedite its work on the case so that a probe report can be completed before the year-end.

"But the NACC is unlikely to decide within this year. This case is likely to be forwarded to the NACC for a decision early next year," he said.

In a related development, Democrat Party politician Warong Dechgitvigrom urged the government to review plans to sell rice from its stock in large lots.

He said that by selling rice of different quality together, prospective buyers would attempt to push down prices and corrupt officials would benefit from helping buyers prepared to pay bribes get rice at low prices.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/pol...scheme-will-be-sued-to-cover-lo-30250291.html

Re: People behind rice scheme will be sued to cover losses, Prayut says

what about selling to north korea with a steep discount?

Re: People behind rice scheme will be sued to cover losses, Prayut says

they remove the ozone smell
that mean that there is still trace element of ozone on the rice?
maybe someone can make a ozone detector to test thai rice.