Inspectors seize irregular rice in Araraquara (SP)

Tax agents from the regional branch of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (Mapa) in Araraquara (SP) seized 2.119 5-kilo packages of rice from a supermarket chain in the city. The food is packaged by a company from Rio Grande do Sul and was completely out of classification. The packaging stated that the product was long-grain, type 1 rice, but upon fiscal analysis, the product was found to be type 3.

According to Annex VII of Ministerial Normative Instruction No. 06/2009 of February 6, 2009, the total limit for broken and broken pieces is 7,5% of the weight. However, in the batches of the product inspected, the result found was 24,59% of the weight, that is, more than three times the amount permitted for type 1 declared on the packaging. According to the inspectors, the irregularity is characterized as consumer fraud.

In this case, the responsibility lies with the packer established in Rio Grande do Sul. The company, which distributes its products in the main Brazilian states, is a repeat offender in terms of the violations recorded.

Mapa reinforces that all rights of defense will be granted to the company, whose irregularities will be investigated in an administrative tax process. Mapa will only disclose the name of the offender after the process is concluded.

According to the inspectors, the company will have the opportunity to request expert analysis and, if non-compliance is confirmed, it will have to replace the irregular batches of seized products with compliant batches. The products that do not meet the classification criteria will be returned to the industry for reprocessing and reclassification to the actual type, all under the supervision of the tax agents of the state where it is established.

The product batches were seized based on items I and II of article 102 of Federal Decree 6.268/2007 and item I of article 26 of federal law 14.515/2022, known as the self-control law. The company is subject to the penalties provided for in article 27 of this law.

The Ministry of Agriculture asks consumers who have concerns about the quality of plant-based products or products of plant origin found in stores to report the incident on the Fala BR platform, found on the Ministry of Agriculture website. This platform is a tool created by the Office of the Comptroller General of the Union (CGU) and is used to report, praise, make requests or send suggestions, anonymously or otherwise. The mechanism greatly assists in scheduling inspections.