While the officials say there is no plastic rice in the market, consumers are displaying the rice bounding balls here in Hyderabad. They are making balls of the rice that they cooked and are playing with them. Multiple videos are going viral on social media these days of people playing ‘bounce the ball’ with rice cooked at home.
In the last few days in Hyderabad, there have been complaints from the Charminar area, Yousufguda, Saroornagar and Meerpet that multiple outlets are selling what is being dubbed as ‘plastic rice’ which is causing health problems.
Acting on these complaints, the food and civil supplies department has sent in its task force which has collected samples of cooked rice and seized stocks at grocery stores, sending them for qualitative analysis to a laboratory.
A resident of Tolichowki said he was shocked to find the rice he was eating, when rolled into balls, would bounce like it was made out of rubber. He says his family had been complaining of ailments that the doctor could not cure for the last couple of weeks.
“The children suffered loose motions, all had gastric problems. Medicines and doctor were not able to cure as we continued to eat this. Now we have realised what is wrong,” he says. Videos that show polythene being inserted into machines from where noodle-like plastic sticks emerge, which then get cut into fine rice, have gone viral on social media claiming that it is plastic rice coming from China that has infiltrated the market.
This has created a scare among the people and rumours on social media have added to the fears. But none of this has been authoritatively established. The qualitative test reports from laboratories are awaited.
