Rancid rice, imported to Kyrgyzstan from the USA, was intended for school canteens

The rancid rice, imported to Kyrgyzstan from the USA by the non-profit organization Mercy Corps, was intended for school canteens. This is with reference to the Kyrgyz Ministry of Agriculture reports IA 24.kg .

According to the agency, the issue related to this incident was considered at a meeting of the parliamentary committee on agrarian policy, water resources, ecology and regional development.

"Do we have Kyrgyzstan as a landfill, that unsuitable goods are brought here and disposed of here? Who issued hygiene certificates for these products?" — Deputy Alisher Erbayev addressed a question to representatives of the agrarian department.

According to him, there is a lot of speculation about this in society now.

"Was the whole party completely liquidated? To whom was this rice intended?" — the deputy further asked a question.

The representative of the Ministry of Agriculture, Zhanybek Kerimaliev, replied that he had met with Mercy Corps employees last week. According to them, the batch of rice deteriorated on the way and therefore was disposed of upon arrival in Kyrgyzstan.

"I do not know the exact details of whether we are talking about 18 or 18 thousand tons of rice, but I heard that we are still talking about 18 tons of rice. It was intended for schools in the country to organize hot lunches," Kerimaliev added.

As previously reported, 18 tons of rice imported from the USA by the non-governmental organization Mercy Corps were destroyed in the Osh region (southern Kyrgyzstan). According to the results of phytosanitary monitoring conducted at the checkpoint "Kara-Suu Temir Zholu", the product was declared unfit for human consumption.