Plastic rice rumours cooked up, says govt

Says no case reported from city

Rumours about rice made of plastic being sold in the Capital were “fake news”, the Delhi Food Safety Department said in its reply to a complaint.

Complaint lodged

Environmentalist Vikrant Tongad had lodged a complaint with the Public Grievance Monitoring System (PGMS) of the Delhi government about 10 days ago, asking it to take steps to address the reports of plastic rice flooding the markets.

Mr. Tongad had cited reports in the media as well as information shared through social media that the said plastic rice was being imported from China.

On Tuesday, the reply from the Food Safety Department to Mr. Tongad’s complaint dismissed the reports.

“This is fake news. The Department of Food Safety keeps a strict vigil on the quality of food items. During the past days, 27 samples of rice have been lifted from different markets of Delhi and in no case plastic was found,” the Department replied.

However, Mr. Tongad said the response did not mean that plastic rice was not being sold anywhere in Delhi.

“The inspections should be carried out on a regular basis and on a larger scale. Just because 27 samples were cleared doesn’t mean that there is no plastic rice,” said Mr. Tongad.

Response awaited

He added that he had filed a similar complaint with the Central government’s PGMS, but was yet to receive a response. In his complaint, he asked the Centre whether rice was being imported from China.

A video of children playing with a ball apparently made of plastic rice in Uttarakhand went viral earlier this month.