In the month of July, Eastern Sentinel had reported about an FIR lodged by an individual over alleged ‘plastic rice’ sold to him. Earlier, there had been unconfirmed reports about discovery of ‘plastic eggs’ in Nirjuli.

A few weeks ago, a person known to this scribe also faced a similar situation wherein rice procured from a store displayed ‘strange’ properties. Consumers are jittery but no one knows where to go and lodge maybe not complaints but even air their concerns.

 

Kolkata was hit by a mass production of artificial eggs, allegedly made of plastic, which has led to the Kolkata Municipal Corporation to order an investigation into it. Since then social media platforms Facebook and Twitter have been flooded with rumours of plastic rice and plastic eggs in various parts of the country.

Food authorities have rubbished the reports of plastic rice as fake and baseless. Apart from hearsay, there is no definite proof of the existence of plastic rice, eggs or sugar. Many questions would arise if such a thing were true. Why would anyone produce plastic sugar or plastic rice? Wouldn't the cost of production of plastic rice and plastic sugar be as expensive as actual sugar and rice?

 

Till date all such reports of plastic presence in food have been proved false according to preliminary inquiries by experts. The idea of someone producing plastic rice or plastic sugar defies logic, but it remains to be seen if there is more to the story than just plain rumours.

Authorities must not take these as mere rumours and maintain strict vigil on rice mills and godowns across the state. Like other forms of adulterants, assuming that plastic rice does really exists, then unscrupulous individuals many use it by mixing with real rice to avoid detection and this form of adulteration will cause not just monetary loss to consumers but also harm their health.

Even though there has been no proof of the existence of plastic rice or synthetic eggs, fear is palpable among consumers and people are being suspicious of the food they are eating. Authorities need to come out and clear the apprehensions of consumers.

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Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
Phone: 0360-2212313

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