BEIJING, Sept 9 — File this story under China food scandal No.999.
Earlier this year, reports emerged about plastic rice sold on the Chinese market making its way across Asia.
Now, in another classic case of “Buyer beware”, Apple Daily says that fake rice made of tiny pieces of rolled up paper were discovered earlier this week in Guangdong province.
A woman only identified as Cai told local police she had bought the rice from a street vendor who had assured her that it was grown locally out in the other countryside “without the use of any pesticides.”
Technically, he didn’t really pull a fast one, because Apple Daily added that laboratory analysis later revealed the fake rice to be a mix of potatoes, sweet potatoes and synthetic resin. Yum!
Cai was quoted by the newspaper as saying that she and her family hadn’t noticed anything unusual until mid-way through their meal when she bit down on a piece of rice that was “unusually hard.”
Upon closer inspection, she realised it could be rolled it out into a tiny strip of paper.
