No plastic rice

Plastic rice rumous fake news, says TS

'Plastic rice' cooks up a storm in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana

HIGHLIGHTS

• Rumours went viral on social media that plastic rice was being sold on a large-scale at various stores in Andhra Pradesh
• The department of weights and measures is planning to keep a tab on this novel method of rice adulteration

HYDERABAD / VISAKHAPATNAM: Rumours of alleged sale of plastic rice at some grocery stores caused jitters among the people+ of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday.

Two days after a customer found plastic rice being used in a biryani point in Saroornagar in Hyderabad, another customer, this time from Meerpet, approached the local police on Tuesday claiming that the rice which he bought from a grocery store turned out to be a plastic one. By the evening, task force officials of the civil supplies department raided the shop in Meerpet and seized samples which are now being examined. Meanwhile, rumours went viral on social media that plastic rice+was being sold on a large-scale at various stores in Andhra Pradesh triggering panic among the public.

Meerpet police said Ashok, a resident of Nandanavanam colony, complained that for the last several days, he and his family members have been suffering from various health problems like stomach ache, pain in hands and legs. It was on Monday night that when Ashok returned home from work in the night, he found that the rice served to him by his wife was mashed and unedible.

Rumours of plastic rice and the continuous flow of posts, videos and messages on social networking sites, particularly Facebook and WhatsApp, created panic on Tuesday in Andhra Pradesh too.

Even as the reports are yet to be verified, officials in the state are taking no chances. The department of weights and measures (W&M) is planning to keep a tab on this novel method of rice adulteration by forming a special enforcement team.

"We also came to know about plastic or fake rice through media and social networking sites. We have not received any instructions from our higher-ups so far on this issue, but locally I am sending four food inspectors to check rice with the main rice traders in Visakhapatnam," Srinivasa Rao, W&M assistant food controller, told TOI. Until then, he said, they had come across only cases of adulteration of red gram and other commodities.

If any citizen lodges a complaint with the department, they would take it seriously, examine the facts and take action under the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006, Rao added. Rice traders, however, rule out the possibility of plastic rice in the port city. "There is no sale of such plastic rice in the city. By God's grace, Andhra Pradesh does not have any rice shortage to leave space for fake or plastic rice," said K Bhima Rao, a rice trader.

Hyderabad: Task force raids on sweet shops, Ice-cream units

Adulterated Agra Petha, white wash cement, Alum stones and artificial food colors were seized from the accused’s possession.

Hyderabad: Continuing its crackdown on adulterated food products in the city, the Hyderabad Task Force on Wednesday raided several sweet shops and ice cream manufacturing units across the city and arrested two persons on charges of adulteration in two different cases on Wednesday.

In the first case, police arrested Ram Singh, 37, a sweet maker and resident of Jiyaguda. According to Task Force personnel, Ramsingh was indulging in preparing ‘Agra Petha’ in his sweet shop at Jummerat Bazaar in Shahinayathgunj without any valid certificate from the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and was selling adulterated Agra Petha without any brand label. 

“We found him selling sweets prepared using white wash cement, Alum, Sodium Hydrosulphide and other artificial food colors. He was selling the adulterated sweets to customers,” said B Limba Reddy, DCP, Task Force.

Adulterated Agra Petha, white wash cement, Alum stones and artificial food colors were seized from his possession. He was handed over to the Shahinayathgunj police for further action.

In the second incident, the Task Force raided Sindhu Food Lines, an ice cream manufacturing unit, at Bapuji Nagar in Musheerabad and arrested one person. 

The arrested person, Pattala Ashok, 45, proprietor of Sindhu Food Lines and resident of Bapuji Nagar was allegedly making ice creams in different flavours by mixing non-ISI brand milk powder and local color emulsion and food colors. 

Officials seized around 100 expired flavoured milk bottles and other incriminating material from his possession. He was handed over to the Musheerabad police for further action.

Food Frauds’ Free Run

If knife causes a bleeding cut on one’s finger or if fire causes burn injuries by setting oneself ablaze, is it prudent to curse the knife or fire? Similarly, if technology is (mis)used to manufacture plastic rice, artificial egg with toxic chemicals, produce mimic of cashew nut with an attractive price tag by using rejected pieces of groundnut from the confectionery industry, can one point the accusing finger towards technology and its inventors? Food technology, which earned Mysuru the rare distinction of hosting the nation’s and even the world’s biggest research institution some seven decades ago provides examples aplenty of generating knowledge for enterprising investors to establish food processing industries contributing substantially to their incomes as well as country’s wealth through value addition to raw materials. Further, if the street-smart entrepreneurs apply the knowledge generated through research to adulterate food and get away with their unlawful acts, one may hold the researchers responsible to a certain extent. Addition of so-called permitted colours to enhance the appeal of food products to consumers is a good enough example of the harm done to people’s health by researchers.

Buoyed by the propaganda being blared by western countries, the land’s researchers area also extolling the benefits of genetic modification of various food crops, fortification of commonly consumed foods with vitamins, minerals and other nutrients left, right and centre which do not stand scrutiny.

The original mandate, officially declared at the time of establishing the Mysuru-based food technology research institution was highly laudable and was simply stated as ‘To solve the problem of food shortages in the country through development of food technologies” or something of that order. The institute’s research teams have redeemed themselves by fulfilling that mandate through research to an appreciable extent, particularly by developing processes adding substantial value to spices, ready mixes for many traditional dishes, machinery for efficient milling of pulses, storage of food grains minimising losses and so on. The institute also invited flak from the public for developing curd from groundnut and synthetic rice from casava.

Now, the urbanites have got stumped by what has come to be described as Fast foods, a misnomer because there is no novelty about the dishes being gobbled at the roadside eateries all over the land. The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has made it mandatory for food business operators to obtain Food Safety Licence. If the authorities think that the measure would address the free run of food frauds, they are only day-dreaming. The operators are too smart.