Bulgaria’s Food Safety Agency Confirms No Existence of Plastic Rice being Sold in the Country

Posts on Facebook and publications on various sites, shared and commented dozens of times, claim that “plastic rice” is sold in our country, which is dangerous to health. Similar information is accompanied by photos and videos of rice that looks like plastic, reports BNR.

Dozens of videos posted online claim to show fake rice being created in factories in China and Vietnam. According to the description, workers put polyethylene bags into a machine, which after processing turn into rice grains. According to the information in the videos, the fake beans are made from potato starch with a small admixture of plastic for whiteness and a sustainable shape.

According to the authors of the statement, the most serious danger that “plastic rice” hides is the content of aflatoxins, which are actually very dangerous for human health. The toxin, which is produced by molds, is resistant to both heat treatment and different acidity of the environment.

These toxins are a product of molds and are most commonly found in corn, wheat, rice, spices, dried fruits and nuts. Like other molds, the development of aflatoxins is favored by moisture.

Posts and comments on Facebook also circulated the claim about the presence of “plastic rice” in the country.

In some of the posts, a photo of the fake plastic rice, which is dangerous to health, is attached.

Posts on various sites indicate methods of distinguishing fake rice from real rice.

The result of a reverse image search of the photos shows that the photo is not from 2023. The search leads to a Russian online shopping website kaypu.com or:

According to the scanned QR code on the label of the package of rice, which is said to be plastic, the product has the article number 4607046122350 and corresponds to “Рис шлифованный длиннозерный” – translated as “polished long-grain rice”.

BBAH’s position

In an official statement to the BNR, the Bulgarian Food Safety Agency states that so far they have not been notified of the sale of “fake plastic rice” in stores. The Agency also states that such was not discovered during the inspectors’ inspections (see here).

News of Asian-made plastic rice had been circulating for several years after authorities in Nigeria reported in late 2016 that they had seized 2.5 tons of rice. The country’s customs service initially said the rice was made of plastic, but later retracted its claims after the health minister said there was no evidence of this.

This year, similar claims have resurfaced on social media, but there are no real facts behind them. A rebuttal of videos with such claims was recently made by France 24.

Conclusion

The statement that “plastic rice” is sold in the commercial network in Bulgaria, which is dangerous to health, is FALSE. So far, the BBAH has not received a report about “fake plastic rice”. Upon inspection of the photo used in most of the posts making similar claims, it is clear that it does not match the misleading content. Earlier, foreign media also refuted the claims of “plastic rice”.

Follow the latest news with BLITZ and on Telegram. Join the channel here