The Korea Times
20 January 2011
China famous for having all, making all, has now been
reported to have made rice out of plastic and has distributed it.
The Korean-language Weekly Hong Kong in Hong Kong
quoted Singapore media that “Fake rice made out of plastic is massively sold on
the Chinese market.”
According to the report, some distributors are selling
fake rice in Taiyuan, Shaanxi Province, and this rice is a mixture of potatoes,
sweet potatoes and plastic.
“This ‘plastic rice’ is made by forming potatoes and
sweet potatoes into rice-like shape, then adding industrial synthetic resins,”
said a food expert. “Since the rice is different from normal rice, it is hard
like stone even when cooked. Moreover, the synthetic resin in it is very
harmful to the human body.”
One Chinese restaurant association official warns that
eating three bowls of ‘plastic rice’ is the same as eating one vinyl bag. He
added that since the rice is very dangerous there would be strict investigation
on the rice factory. […]
Malaysia Chronicle
19 May 2015
KUALA LUMPUR - The Agriculture and Agro-based Industry
Ministry has not received any reports on fake rice.
Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob denied
receiving such reports and assured that consumers would be taught on how to
identify fake grains. […]
Free Malaysia Today
18 May 2015
FMT Reporters
PETALING JAYA: First there were artificial eggs from
China and now plastic rice said to be exported to several Asian nations.
Social media platforms such as WhatsApp and Facebook
have been circulating the news of the fake rice that has now believed to have
entered Singapore.
Health experts and dieticians have warned that
consuming such fake grains, laced with poisonous resin, could seriously damage
the digestive system. […]
MySinChew.com [Malaysia]
19 May 2015
The Star [Malaysia]
19 May 2015
The Straits Times [Singapore]
19 May 2015
Asia One
20 May 2015
The Jakarta Post
21 May 2015
Viet Nam News
21 May 2015
Jakarta Post
26 May 2015
Dylan Amirio,
House of Representatives (DPR) deputy speaker Agus
Hermanto says the circulation of synthetic or “plastic” rice at markets could
be an inside ploy to disrupt food supplies and create public dissent toward the
government.
The suspicion, the Democratic Party lawmaker said, was
because synthetic rice is reportedly more expensive to produce than regular
rice, making the emergence of the problem itself odd.
“Don’t just look at the fact that plastic rice comes
from imports. The polemic could have a domestic political motive so that food
supplies will be disrupted and stir public anger toward the government,” Agus
told reporters on Tuesday at the House of Representatives complex. […]
The Jakarta Post
27 May 2015
Ina Parlina
The government announced on Tuesday that a round of
official laboratory tests found no plastic substances in controversial rice
samples from Bekasi, West Java.
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo held a meeting on
Tuesday to discuss the results with National Police Gen. Badrodin Haiti, Trade
Minister Rachmat Gobel and Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM) head Roy
Sparringa before the government made the public announcement.
Unlike the results from tests done recently by
state-owned PT Sucofindo, which confirmed that the rice contained polyvinyl
chloride (PVC), the tests conducted by the laboratories of the police, the
BPOM, the Trade Ministry and the Agriculture Ministry showed negative results
for plastic substances, Badrodin announced after the meeting. […]
