Delhi HC to hear plea against Chinese 'plastic' rice

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday agreed to hear a plea seeking directions to the government to carry out the quality test on imported Chinese rice.

The plea said that due to globalisation, rice in large quality is being imported from China but without any quality check.

A division bench of Chief Justice G. Rohini and Justice Jayant Nath posted the matter for August 20.

The "plastic rice" is being imported from China and it cannot be differentiated whether it is genuine rice or made of plastic, said the plea filed through advocate Sugriva Dubey.

For the last few years, China has been producing plastic rice which is being imported and sold throughout India. No test is carried out on whether the rice imported from China is genuine or not, Dubey said.

The plea said that when this plastic rice is boiled together with real rice, it melts and is impossible to differentiate...The plastic rice can't be digested.

The plea said that like rice, pulses are also being imported from China and the government should conduct searches to know the genuineness of the rice and pulses.

It added that there is the issue of also artificial ripening of mangoes by calcium carbide.

The plea was filed in a case already pending before the court, which has been monitoring the pesticides present in fruits and vegetables in the markets of Delhi.