Check out the plastic rice that has taken over the markets

Nigerians are responding in diverse ways to the economic recession. We need not remind you that times are tough and things are hard in our society now.

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Families find it hard to eat properly and those who do spend most of their savings on food items. The rich are angry with the economic meltdown while the poor are crying out for help daily.

The exchange rate has affected most things as the prices of the cheapest materials in the market have doubled. As if that is not enough, inferior products have taken over the markets as some greedy Nigerians want to make as much as they can while selling substandard products.

It is disheartening that some people are taking advantage of the situation of things in the society and are cheating innocent Nigerians in the process. Rice is a staple food in Nigeria with almost every family eating this food once or twice daily. This has led some unknown group of people to start selling and distributing plastic rice.

Plastic rice is rice that is made of synthetic resins. In making this plastic starch, potato starch is mixed with plastic and then steamed with rice flavour. The plastic rice is being mixed with good rice in order not to make people suspicious.

In order to test the kind of rice you are buying from the market, you can perform three basic tests on the rice to know if it is plastic rice. The simplest test is to take a handful of the grains of rice and put it in a cup or bowl of water. If the grains sink, it is good rice. However, if the grains float, then there is every likelihood of the rice being made of plastic.

Another way of testing to know the authenticity of the rice product being sold in the market is by setting fire to a handful of the grains. If the rice smells like plastic, then you do not need any proof that you have bought plastic rice from the market.

You can also test for plastic rice by grinding the rice with mortar and pestle. The powder gotten from this action should be white. But if it is artificial rice, there may be yellow discoloration in product.

Eating plastic rice is dangerous as it has the potential to cut short your lives. The best thing to do is to avoid eating this rice and create awareness

The video below shows what plastic rice looks like: