Fake rice an issue of life, death

Social media reports of the existence of “fake rice” in some Asian countries have set off alarm bells against the entry of the staple laced with poisonous resin into their shores.

The Straits Times of Singapore has reported that plastic rice, made from potatoes and sweet potatoes with synthetic resin molded into the shape of real rice, is said to have made its way into countries with large rural populations, such as India, Indonesia and Vietnam.

The rice, allegedly produced in China, is said to stay hard after it is cooked. One such rumor said the fake rice had entered Singapore.

Health experts and dieticians have warned that consuming such grains could be lethal or seriously damage the digestive system.

News of the fake rice, commonly sold in Chinese markets, especially in Taiyuan in Shaanxi province, has been circulating on popular social media platforms, such as WhatsApp and Facebook.

Malaysia’s domestic trade ministry has said the news on fake rice, which has gone viral on the Internet, may be true or false, but the ministry “would not take such things lightly.”

Plastic resin

Sources from the rice industry said such rice would not be sold openly at supermarkets but mostly in small shops.

Wherever the fake rice may be available, Singapore’s National Heart Institute chief dietician Mary Easaw-John told the Straits Times that “some substances, such as plastic resin, are not meant to be edible and in the long run will have negative implications on the digestive system.”

According to the Times, food adulteration is a serious problem. About 300,000 people fell sick and at least six infants died in China in 2008 when Chinese milk and infant formula were found to be adulterated with melamine.

Malaysia’s health ministry was reported to be aware of the allegation circulating on social media that fake rice was being produced in China and that it was then exported to a number of Asian countries. The majority of rice imports came from Vietnam, Thailand and Pakistan.

Prominent brands

According to Health Fitness magazine, plastic rice, sold on the Chinese market that found its way into various Asian countries, was also found in many prominent brands. Many consumers have reported that such brands caused gastritis and other stomach-related diseases.

Consumers say that this kind of rice is undetectable because it comes mixed with normal rice packs. Health authorities in Singapore, Malaysia and India have put under surveillance imports of rice, but they have found that there’s no system to check the fake rice from natural rice because the former is similar to natural rice and can hardly be differentiated by its appearance.

However, when cooked, the rice remains and soup made by it forms a plastic sheath, which burns like plastic.

Officials of the Philippines’ Department of Agriculture (DA) and National Food Authority (NFA) tried to allay fears over the spread of fake rice in Asian countries by dousing reports that it had already reached the Philippines. The denial was less than reassuring.

The NFA spokesperson, Director Angel Imperial Jr., claimed that the government, through the Bureau of Plant Industry, was strictly implementing its screening and evaluation process on imported rice.

He also said that the NFA was conducting another round of evaluation of imported rice. After this process, Imperial said he was certain there was no fake rice in the NFA imports.

The DA reinforced the NFA claim that not a single grain of fake rice had slipped into the country.

[The DA and NFA claims appear to have been belied by reports of fake rice being sold not only in Davao City but also in other parts of the country. The Food and Development Center, NFA’s laboratory arm, announced on Friday that preliminary results of its tests showed that a sample from Davao City was “contaminated with dibutyl phthalate or DBP, a raw material for making flexible plastic products.”]

The Philippine is highly vulnerable to a penetration of fake rice because it imports a big portion of its imported rice from Vietnam. About 300,000 metric tons from Vietnam arrived in April.

Sufficient rice supply has been a sensitive political issue in the Philippines that can make or unmake governments. That’s why it has to import large volumes of rice from its traditional suppliers—Vietnam and Thailand—to make up for the shortfall in domestic rice production stemming from the perennial failure of its rice-self-sufficiency program.

Having failed to achieve its production goals, the government cannot afford a disastrous debacle from the failure to protect its supply against the invasion of poisonous fake rice that can decimate thousands of Filipino lives—worse than the plague.

Fake rice is a life-and-death issue, as the nation approaches the next presidential election in May next year.