The samples will be handed over to the Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute for analysis, the ministry said in a statement today.

It said the operation was an inter-agency effort that included the Padi and Rice Regulatory Agency, the police, the domestic trade and cost of living ministry, and the quarantine and inspection services department.

Headed by deputy minister Chan Foong Hin, it involved 42 enforcement and police officers taking samples of rice and inspecting warehouse stocks.

“Inspections were carried out at the factory, wholesalers and retail levels,” said Chan in a Facebook post today.

“The ministry will continue its inter-agency enforcement cooperation, and will not compromise against anyone found to be mixing local and imported rice, or hiding stocks of local rice.”

Minister Mohamad Sabu has blamed the shortage of local rice supplies on panic buying triggered by a video falsely claiming that supplies were about to run out.

His ministry also found that consumers were buying local rice after the price of imported rice shot up following India’s decision to halt exports.