In a shocking development, the rumors of rice being made of plastic have surfaced giving a tough time to people and administration. Now, the Delhi food department is collecting samples from various parts of the city. Reportedly, it isn’t just rice, highly used sugar too is being said to contain some amount of plastic.
“There were videos on social networking platforms about rice and sugar being made of plastic. We have started a check and are collecting samples from different parts of Delhi,” said an officer from the Department of Food Safety as per a report in DNA.
The Department of Food Safety has collected around 20 samples of rice and sugar from numerous parts of the Capital in the last two weeks. About 20 such samples have been gathred and sent to the lab. “The report will come out in two weeks. If the samples will fail the quality test, strict action will be taken against the supplier,” the official added.
Plastic rice, when swallowed with real rice, is not processed and can cause grave gastric problems, feel doctors. “Rice adulterated with plastic can be cancerous, and consumers should be really careful about it,” said Dr SK Sarin, Director, Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences.
“Contamination with plastics is a less research issue in context of medical effects; but one of increasing importance to India. In animal experiments, such contamination can affect liver, reproductive system and heart, and it’s even known to cause diabetes,” said, Dr Anoop Misra, member, National Control Programme for Diabetes and Cardiovascular Diseases, Union health ministry.
The food department initiated a surprise inspections and raids on food establishments.
