The business of food adulteration has grown over the years and now it has reached to a level where it has become important for the governing bodies to define regulation and also make the masses aware of how to detect food adulterants at home. Keeping the same in view, the (FSSAI) has started a Twitter initiative called #DetectingFoodAdulterants. Under this, every week they share a quick test that you can try to check whether your food is adulterated or not. This week, they shared the test of adulteration in Sella Rice. Here’s everything you need to know about rice adulteration. 

What is Rice adulteration-

Adulteration in rice either adventitiously or deliberately is likely right from crop harvest to till the grain reaches the consumers. The common forms of rice prone to adulteration are brown rice, polished rice, rice flour, rice cake, and rice bran oil. As per a TOI report in 2017, there are players who are making plastic rice and as per doctors, plastic rice can increase the risk of cancer by 15-20 percent. This adulterated rice is made of potato carved in the shape of rice or covered with a coating of cheap plastic sheet.

Check your Sella Rice!

Sella Rice is the most ‘in-demand’ variation of Basmati rice. The processing of the crop is done by first steaming it at the paddy stage and then drying it out before sending it for the milling process. This process is performed so that the rice is allowed to retain more minerals and more vitamins from the original grain. To check the purity of Sella rice, FSSAI recommends the use of soaked lime. Soaked lime or calcium hydroxide is an inorganic compound and is a colorless crystal or white powder and is made by mixing quicklime to water. It is in traditional building methods to make plaster, mortar, and limewash.

Here are some FSSAI tests you should know about!

Detection of extraneous matter (dust, pebble, stone, straw, weed seeds, damaged grain, weeviled grain, insects, rodent hair and excreta) in food grains

Testing Method:

 Take a small quantity of sample on a glass plate.

 Examine the impurities visually.

 Pure food grains will not have any such impurities.

 Impurities are observed visually in adulterated food grains.

Detection of dhatura in food grains

Testing Method:

 Take small quantity of food grains in a glass plate.

 Examine the impurities visually.

 Dhatura seeds which are flat with edges and blackish-brown in colour can be separated out by close examination.

 Impurities are observed visually in adulterated food grains.

Detection of turmeric in sella rice

Testing Method:

 Take a teaspoon of rice in a glass plate.

 Sprinkle a small amount of soaked lime (commonly known as chuna which is used in pan) on the rice grains.

 Pure grains will not form red colour.

 Adulterated grains will form red colour.

Hope this keeps you on your heels to check your grains of rice!