This has been around for a while:
Posted : 2011-01-20 17:58
Updated : 2011-01-20 17:58
Chinese fake rice is on shelves
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.
In the mean time, merchants say that as the fake rice can leave huge profits, it is still sold in mass quantity.
This is not the first time for fake rice e sold in China. A Chinese television report has alleged that a company in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, has been producing a fake version of high-quality "Wuchang rice" by adding flavoring to ordinary rice.