One must’ve seen numerous videos claiming sale of plastic rice being a prevalent issue in the country. Recently a video claimed the basmati rice being made by India Gate to be plastic, prompting India Gate to put up its own video as an explanation for the same. The person in the video claims and shows how the cooked rice balls bounce off the wall.
Now, a stray complaint about the usage of plastic rice in a hotel in Saroornagar in Hyderabad three days ago sparked off numerous complaints reaching officials in Telangana. Telangana State Civil Supplies Department immediately swung into action, collecting and sending samples for analysis.
The whole issue had begun when a news channel employee stated that he found plastic rice in the biriyani he had purchased from a hotel in Saroornagar. When the person went to the hotel for questioning, he was beat up. Consequently, many other persons alleged that the rice they had purchased from sellers was plastic rice. Hostellers in Ameerpet claimed that when they hurled lumps of these rice, the balls were rebounding. They had even stated that the egg they were served was plastic too.
Since then, numerous posts have reportedly been put up on social media claiming the same to be happening in Andhra Pradesh too. The continuous posts about the sale of plastic rice on Facebook and WhatsApp has created panic in Andhra Pradesh. Despite the fact that these reports are yet to be verified, the officials plan to keep a tab on the issue of rice adulteration. No criminal cases have been registered as of now.
Four food inspectors have been deployed in Visakhapatnam to check on the rice traders by Srinivasa Rao, W&M Assistant Food Controller due to the posts on social media. Visakhapatnam had previously only seen adulteration in red gram and other commodities. ETV states that plastic rice has been found in shops in Prakasham and Kurnool district.
While the scare of plastic rice was doing rounds, the Hyderabad Police Commissioner’s taskforce has raided 15 dairy farms and arrested 20 persons for administering Oxytocin injections to buffaloes for increased production of milk.
