No plastic rice in Ghana - Food and Drugs Authority (video)
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The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) has given assurance to the public that there is no plastic rice on the Ghanaian market as being rumoured on some social media platforms.
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The authority, therefore, challenged anyone with information or in possession of such rice to furnish it with such relevant information or submit samples to it for verification.
Addressing a news conference in Accra Friday, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of FDA, Mrs Delese Mimi Darko, dismissed rumours circulating on social media platforms that there was plastic rice on the local market.
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Other countries
The rumours of plastic, artificial or fake rice also surfaced in Singapore, Nigeria, Canada, the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States of America (USA).
In Ghana, since late last year, the issue of the presence of plastic rice has gone viral in social media, with pictures of alleged plastic rice in the system on those platforms.
But the FDA dismissed the existence of plastic rice describing it as a “perception created in the minds of people as a result of videos seen on social media showing the production of HDPE pellets (the raw material used for the production of PET bottles, plastic bowls etc).
“Plastic pellets are small plastic granules of various shapes and sizes and are generally solid in nature. Real rice will cook at a temperature of 100 degrees Celsius, while the alleged plastic rice will remain as solid granules when cooked at 100 degrees Celsius, since plastics require a much higher temperature to melt,” the FDA explained.
Background
Giving a background, Mrs Darko explained that the FDA became aware of those videos late last year and “immediately commenced investigations to ascertain the truth or otherwise of the rumours.
“Using our nationwide market surveillance programme, we obtained random samples. FDA issued a press statement requesting members of the public to assist by either submitting samples of the rumoured plastic rice or giving information of where it could be found.
“We subjected all the samples received to laboratory investigation. Results from the laboratory analysis indicated that all the samples were in fact authentic rice, and not plastic,” she told journalists.
Supported by some of the heads of departments of the authority to answer some of the questions by journalists, Mrs Darko said the FDA further contacted the International Food Safety Authority Network (INFOSAN), which was also conducting investigations into the same issue.
She said the INFOSAN’s network revealed that the rumoured artificial, plastic and fake rice appearing in Singapore, Nigeria and Canada turned out to be real and authentic rice.
Mrs Darko explained that the physical and chemical properties of plastic were such that they ordinarily could not be reconstituted into edible food, saying, “this is because plastics cannot absorb water and so, do not mix with water.”
She, therefore, called on the general public, particularly the media, to partner with the FDA to raise public awareness on all matters of food safety issues.
Laboratory demonstration
The Head of Food Chemical Laboratory of the FDA, Mr Cheetham Mingle, who took journalists through series of demonstrations to support the assertion of Mrs Darko, explained that one simple way of determining authentic rice from fake or plastic rice was that when it was cooked, authentic rice had a bouncy property when moulded into balls.
He said when set ablaze, authentic rice left behind ash, while plastic melted away, thus corroborating what the CEO said that plastic could not be cooked for consumption because of its chemical compositions.
When the Daily Graphic contacted some wholesale and retailers of rice, as well as food sellers, it was gathered that even though they had heard and seen videos of the purported plastic rice, they had never seen samples of such rice on the market.
Dealers
The Managing Director (MD) of Two Thousand Ltd, a wholesaler and retailer of various brands of rice, Mr Majid El-Jamal, dismissed the claim of the existence of plastic rice, insisting that he believed what was circulating on social media was photoshop.
He based his belief on the fact that for some time now, no one had been able to provide samples, adding that no serious business person would add plastic pellets to rice since they were more expensive than rice.
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A cooked rice seller, Ms Adjoa Serwaa, explained that she did not believe it because rice had starch, while plastic did not, adding that for over the 10 years that she had been selling cooked rice, she had never come across such rice.
For her part, Hajia Maimuna,a waakye seller, told the Daily Graphic that she had received a number of WhatsApp messages warning her of plastic rice.
She said she did not believe it because she had the privilege of seeing plastic pellets meant for the manufacturing of plastic containers, which actually looked like rice, “So, when I saw that information, l knew it was false.”
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