Amid reports of plastic rice being sold in Nagaland, state Principal Secretary and Commissioner Food Safety, Amardeep Singh Bhatia issued a statement on Monday, saying the Food Analyst report confirmed the rice as fortified rice.
The rice sample was collected and sent for testing to the State Public Health Laboratory by Food Safety Officer, Dimapur. The rice sample tested indicate presence of fortificants in the rice confirming the rice as fortified rice, Bhatia said.
Further, microscopic examination of rice kernels shows clusters of rice starch of oryza sativa species (natural rice origin) and do not show any form of adulterant (plastic) mixture as alleged in the viral video.
The statement said that the tested rice sample as per the standardized parameters is within the prescribed limit under Regulation No.2.4.6: (24) of Food Safety and Standards (Food Products and Food Additives) Regulations 2011.
It may be informed that Fortification of Food is Standardized and operationalized under Food Safety & Standards (Fortification of Foods) Regulations, 2017 and rice can be fortified using dusting, coating or extrusion technology where the milled broken rice is pulverized and mixed with vitamins and minerals resulting in fortified rice kernels ( Section 4.4 of Guidebook on Food Fortification, FSSAI), the statement also said
Also, under Food Safety & Standards (Fortification of Foods) Regulations, 2017 Every package of fortified food shall carry the words "fortified with.....(name of the fortificant)" and the logo (Plus F) as specified in Schedule II of the Regulations on the label, the statement added.