Jakarta (ANTARA) - Minister of Agriculture, Andi Amran Sulaiman, found seven more companies carrying out MinyaKita cooking oil quantity deception during his inspection at Tambahrejo Market, Surabaya, East Java.
"We found the oil measurements were reduced, some were only 700 ml. This is detrimental to the community," he said after the inspection on Friday.
The seven companies suspected of the fraud are CV Briva Jaya Mandiri (Ponorogo), CV Bintang Nanggala, KP Nusantara (Kudus), CV Aneka Sawit Sukses Sejahtera (Surabaya), CV Mega Setia (Gresik), and PT Mahesi Agri Karya (Surabaya).
Deputy Agriculture Minister Sudaryono and officials from the Presidential Staff Office (KSP) and the National Police's food task force also joined the inspection.
Earlier, Sulaiman conducted inspections in Jakarta and Solo, where he detected MinyaKita quantity fraud by three companies in Jakarta and two in Solo.
Based on government regulations, the highest retail price for MinyaKita is Rp15,700 per liter. Therefore, the minister emphasized that the quantity fraud is detrimental to the public.
"We hope there will be severe sanctions for these companies," he added.
On the same occasion, Deputy Minister Sudaryono said that the inspections focused on the volume, but the quality of the oil also needs to be studied further.
"We may find more violations if we check the quality of the oil," he added.
Meanwhile, Brigadier General Djoko Prihadi from the food task force assured that the National Police's Criminal Investigation Unit is following up on the finding.
"We found seven companies here, and there are already 10 suspects throughout Indonesia. We will investigate thoroughly," he assured.
Earlier, the task force and the Ministry of Trade sealed a factory belonging to PT Artha Eka Global Asia (AEGA) in Karawang, West Java, in connection with the same case.
In the MinyaKita distribution chain, PT AEGA worked as a repacker and was registered as a level 1 (D1) distributor.
During volumetric tests, the volume of oil in fully filled bottles produced by PT AEGA was found to be around 800 milliliters, which is 200 ml lower than the required 1 thousand ml or 1 liter.
