Food Mixture (Manipulation) Season

The season of adulteration is currently sweeping across Indonesia. Food manipulation is on the rise. Adulterated rice that does not meet quality standards and measurements is circulating. Sugar is also being mixed, to the extent that farmers' sugar is not selling. Moreover, this rice and sugar are being sold above the highest retail price set by the government. What is going on?

The story of adulterated rice that violates regulations began with an investigation initiated by the Ministry of Agriculture from June 6 to 23, 2025. From a sample of 268 brands of medium and premium rice from 10 provinces, 212 brands violated quality, measurement, and selling price regulations.

In terms of quality, for example, broken rice was found to contain between 30 and 50 percent, which does not meet the Indonesian National Standard (SNI) for rice quality. However, the standard for broken rice in medium and premium rice blends is a maximum of 25 percent and 15 percent, respectively.

Rejected rice, which is used as an ingredient in adulteration, is very detrimental to consumers. Rejected rice is rice that has not passed quality sorting and is often sold at a lower price, especially for animal feed.

This provision is regulated in the Minister of Agriculture Regulation Number 31 of 2017 concerning Rice Quality Classes and the National Food Agency Regulation Number 2 of 2023 concerning Quality Requirements and Rice Labeling.

The Food Task Force of the Indonesian National Police (Polri) is investigating the case. As a result, 71 rice samples were found to be non-compliant with the National Standard (SNI), and 139 samples were both non-compliant with the SNI and sold above the highest retail price (HET).

In addition, three samples of premium rice were found to be non-compliant with the SNI and the packaging weight did not match the label. Furthermore, there were 19 brands of rice that violated three regulations simultaneously, namely non-compliance with the SNI, sold above the HET, and having a weight below the standard.

The Food Task Force of the National Police also released five premium rice brands that are suspected of not meeting the Indonesian National Standard (SNI). The five rice brands are Sania owned by PT PIM; Jelita owned by Toko SY; as well as Setra Ramos Merah, Setra Ramos Biru, and Beras Setra Pulen owned by PT FS.

In fact, as of August 1, 2025, the Indonesian National Police Food Task Force has named three suspects from the management of PT FS (Kompas, 1/8/2025).

During searches in several areas, police also uncovered several rice adulteration schemes. One example involved adulterating medium-grade rice with reject rice, packaged and sold using Perum Bulog's Food Supply and Price Stabilization (SPHP) rice packaging. These cases were uncovered in Riau and East Kalimantan.

Rejected rice, which is used as an ingredient in adulteration, is very detrimental to consumers. Rejected rice is rice that has not passed quality screening. This low-quality rice is often sold at lower prices, especially for animal feed.

Why is the case of adulterated rice, which violates regulations, so prevalent? Firstly, this case may arise purely from economic motives, namely the pursuit of profit. This is considering that the adulteration of rice that does not comply with regulations is a classic annual problem.

Second, the emergence of these cases was also made possible by government policy. In 2025, the government introduced a policy requiring farmers to purchase harvested dry grain (GKP) without quality standards (any quality) at a minimum of IDR 6,500 per kg. The government also did not raise the highest retail price (HET) for medium and premium rice.

Any quality GKP will certainly increase rice production costs. Rice produced from any quality GKP will also not be as good as rice from GKP that meets quality standards.

The production costs of rice have become high. The implication is that rice is sold above the Highest Retail Price (HET) and the rice circulating in the market is mixed rice that does not comply with the National Standard (SNI).

The problem will instead be addressed by the government by eliminating the classification of medium and premium rice. Through this policy, there will only be regular and special rice in Indonesia.

This policy plan actually has the potential to stifle national rice innovation, lower rice quality, and narrow people's choices for purchasing rice (Kompas, 30/7/2025).

Sugar has a similar fate. The Indonesian Sugarcane Farmers Association (APTRI) stated that as of July 30, 2025, a total of 51,634.963 tons of farmers' sugar in East Java, West Java, and Central Java is still piled up in the warehouses of several sugar mills.

This is because traders are reluctant to participate in the sugar auction. In fact, in 2025, the government has set the reference purchase price for sugar at the farmer level to be the same as in 2024, which is Rp 14,500 per kg.

In normal situations, the stock of white crystal sugar for consumption in the market usually begins to dwindle in May. Subsequently, market players will regularly purchase sugar from farmers during the auctions in the sugarcane milling season from May to November, peaking in July-August.

However, in 2025, the milling season has not yet reached its peak, and the enthusiasm of traders participating in the farmers' sugar auction is far from normal conditions. APTRI and sugar industry observers suspect that there is refined sugar and illegal imported white crystal sugar leaking into the consumer sugar market.

Both types of sugar are suspected to be sold in retail, even mixed, in various regions in Indonesia because their prices are cheaper compared to farmer's sugar. On July 24, 2025, the Department of Industry, Trade, Cooperatives, and Small and Medium Enterprises (Disperindagkop) of North Kalimantan Province acknowledged that it has always faced difficulties in eradicating illegal sugar from Malaysia.

Previously, on July 14, 2025, the Central Java Regional Police uncovered a case of adulterated sugar that used branded Raja Gula sacks belonging to ID Food in Banyumas Regency, Central Java. The adulterated sugar is a mixture of refined sugar and white crystal sugar.

The perpetrators have been producing mixed sugar at around 300-500 tons per month since 2018. The mixed sugar was sold in several areas in Central Java and East Java (Kompas, 1/8/2025).

In addition to the leakage of the two types of sugar, there are also other allegations that contribute to the low interest of traders in participating in the sugar auction. They may be concerned about the government's plan to strengthen the government's sugar reserves (CGP) and to make village/sub-district cooperatives the distributors of consumer sugar.

What can the government do to address the rice and sugar problems? In the rice sector, the government should not reinstate the policy of purchasing any quality of unhusked rice. It should also cancel plans to eliminate medium and premium rice grades.

In addition, adjust the HET for medium and premium rice in a measured manner. Monitoring of the rice market also needs to be conducted periodically and consistently, rather than on an ad-hoc basis.

In the sugar sector, the government needs to promptly realize the absorption of farmers' sugar for the CGP through several state-owned enterprises, such as Perum Bulog, ID Food, and PT Sinergi Gula Nusantara. Moreover, the government has promised to allocate funds amounting to Rp 1.5 trillion to actualize the CGP.

Addressing the issue of leakage of refined sugar and illegal imported white crystal sugar by tightening supervision periodically and consistently, as well as taking firm action against violators. In addition, recalculating the need for raw sugar imports as a raw material for refined sugar according to the actual needs of the industry.

Thus, hopefully, the season of illegal rice and sugar adulteration or food manipulation can at least be more subdued.