DigitEye India Fact Checkers
A video is being widely circulated on WhatsApp. The viral video claims that it shows how plastic is being used to manufacture rice in factories. It claims that factories use clean plastic and even waste plastic to create rice. It shows how plastic is treated, washed, and pulled into thin strings before it is broken down into rice grains.
Digiteye India received this request in Tamil to fact-check the viral video on WhatsApp.
FACT CHECK
The Digiteye India team used inVID – a video verification tool – to break the video down into multiple keyframes. We used those keyframes and ran a Reverse Image Search on Google. One of the results led us to a Facebook page that had posted this video. A page that goes by the name, The News Room, shared the exact same video on October 7 with the same claim. The post read, “देखिये फैक्टरी में नकली चावल को कैसे बनाया जाता है? How Plastic rice is made in a factory?”
When we looked at the video, we noticed that it is a compilation of multiple videos and images. While running a Reverse Image Search on the clips, one of the results led us to this page that talks about Fortified Rice. The image used in the blog was also used in the same video. A blog post by Fortifit used the image to talk about the manufacture of fortified rice kernels.
In the blog post dating back to December 29, 2021, they said, “In extrusion technology, milled rice is pulverized and mixed with a premix containing vitamins and minerals. Fortified rice kernels (FRK) are produced from this mixture using an extruder machine. The kernels resemble rice grains.”
When we used another screenshot to run a Reverse Image Search, it led us to a YouTube video that was posted on August 13, 2021 by SunPring Extrusion. The video was titled, ‘Artificial rice extruder nutritional rice making machine FRK fortified rice machine.’ The video showed the production of fortified rice.
Rice fortification is when rice is broken down into small pieces and mixed with important vitamins and minerals. This fortified rice is, then, mixed with regular rice. According to the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, “rice fortification is a cost-effective, culturally appropriate strategy to address micronutrient deficiency in countries with high per capita rice consumption.”
FSSAI adds that “fortifying rice makes it more nutritious by adding vitamins and minerals in the post-harvest phase; many of which are lost during the milling and polishing process.” On the other hand, the body has also ruled out plastic rice. In their myth busters section, they said, “It is the natural phenomenon of rice to burn since it is a complex carbohydrate and since rice is 80% starch, it has cohesive and adhesive properties and when the rice is cooked and transformed into a ball, the air gets entrapped & becomes bouncy like a ball. Thus, it should be ruled out that the rice contains plastic.”
In 2022, the Press Information Bureau released a statement that said that the Cabinet has approved the distribution of fortified rice across all Government Schemes.
Digiteye India had previously debunked a claim that passed the creation of plastic pellets as grains of wheat.
Hence, the claim made in the video is false.
CLAIM: A viral video shows how plastic is used to manufacture rice in Chinese factories.
CONCLUSION: The claim made in the video is false. Random videos and images have been used to show the creation of “plastic rice.” In reality, multiple videos that show the production of fortified rice have been used to support the false claim. FSSAI has also ruled out plastic rice.
Rating: Misrepresentation – 
