Use iodine solution to test rice, say officials

Officials raid rice stores in city following reports over ‘plastic rice’

Amid panic over ‘plastic rice’ being sold in the market, the Food Safety Department officials conducted raids across the State on Wednesday.

Officials led by zonal in-charge N. Poornachandra Rao raided eight rice shops in various areas of the city.

However, no trace of ‘plastic rice’ was found during the raids. “There is no scope for so-called plastic rice to surface in the market in this region. There is a lot of difference between the boiling points of the rice and plastic which makes them easily differentiable. Following some reports on the sale of plastic rice in the neighbouring State, people started panicking. To prove that it is only a delusion we have conducted the raids and also demonstrated how to find out if there is artificial rice mixed with rice,” he said.

Mr. Rao said if a few drops of iodine solution on a sample of broken rice grains change the colour of the rice into violet due to the presence of starch in it, it can be considered pure. No change in colour means otherwise. Iodine solution is available in pharmacies.