‘Plastic food’ rumours a ‘hoax’, says FSSAI

A heap of two varieties of rice.

Wokha, June 20 (MExN): The Food Safety and Standard Authority of India (FSSAI) has informed consumers that the “rumours on plastic cabbage, plastic kurkure, plastic rice and plastic egg are hoax.”

“The video on plastic cabbage was actually about wax food replicas used as displays outside restaurants in Japan,” stated Peterson Pongener, Designated Officer (Food Safety), Kohima Zone, and CMO Wokha, in a press release today.

He stated that the FSSAI has expressed concerns over “fake news and fake videos on plastic food going viral on various social media platforms.”

The FSSAI is said to have raised the issue with Ministry of Electronics and IT last November who has assured to book the perpetrators. The CMO Wokha requested citizens to “refrain from spreading such fake viral videos and not fall prey to such false information creating more panic and confusion.”

Regarding plastic kurkure, stated the CMO Wokha, “FSSAI clarified that the presence of a compound called acrylamide causes the food item to burn when lit with a match stick and it does not contain any plastic material.”

Further, “Dr. Nagappa G Malleshi, former head of Grains, Science and Technology, Mysore, explained that rice is 80 percent starch which makes the cooked rice swell and sticky. So when it is mashed and made into a ball, they entrap air and therefore bounce. He also clarified that plastic rice cannot absorb water nor can it cook. It will only melt and burn. Eggs stored at room temperature for days undergo changes in their texture, smell and appearances. As a consequence of water loss in old eggs, the egg white and yolk portions shrink. It results in a dry and paper like appearance which creates the impression that it is plastic.”

Samples of suspected plastic rice and egg which were recently submitted in the month of June from Wokha district and tested at SPHL, Kohima were found to be natural and devoid of any artificial or plastic elements, informed the officer.

Moreover, random samples are being collected by Food Safety officials of respective districts and tested at SPHL Kohima to check compliance of the standards laid down under the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006, Rules and Regulations, he affirmed.