And The Bureau says it's because the rice producers have not met labeling standards. These new labeling requirements go all the way back to this time last year when Jack Charles first threatened to bring in Guyanese rice because local rice was too expensive at 1.20 a pound. The local producers blamed it on price gouging grocers, so the Bureau of Standards came up with a solution: the producers would label the rice by pound and price - so that when it reached the shelf, it would leave nothing to the discretion of the merchants. In other words, they would no longer be able to sell loose rice for their price; they would have to sell it for the price on the pre-labelled bag.

But, anyone who's been around the block will know that rice is still sold loose, so the Belize Bureau of Standards went straight to an un-named producer who wasn't labeling their rice according to the new law - and seized all the hundred pounds rice sacks in their Belize City warehouse. How much rice? Try twenty-seven thousand, five hundred and seventy one pounds of it!!!

They removed this rice last week, and gave the producer time to comply with the labeling requirements. A press release issued today says that the company says it will reprocess the rice so that they can be in compliance with the new packaging regulations. We are told the producer is a Mennonite from Shipyard and he was given a month's grace period to get his rice properly labeled and packaged. This is after the law was passed in October of 2015. His rice was reportedly sold at the Michael Finnegan Market.