The headline is as scandalous as it gets: “China Makes Fake Rice From Plastic.” The news reports, like the one linked above from a site called Very Vietnam, alleges “that some distributors are selling fake rice in Taiyuan, Shaanxi Province, and this rice is a mixture of potatoes, sweet potatoes and plastic.”
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It's scary and alarming, but so far, until verifiable proof is produced, it smells like an urban legend.
The story seems to have gained some traction, though. There have been a slew of reports from sites, all citing other news sources. The International Business Times wrote about it, citing the Korea Times, which in turn cited a Korean-language newsite called Weekly Hong Kong.
The sources seem to dry up from there. But if people are believing it, it's because it doesn't seem that far-fetched. After Chinese scandals involving cadmium-laced Shrek glasses at McDonald's, tainted milk, and contaminated pet food, this seems par for the course. Never mind that manufacturing such a product sounds like it would be more expensive than processing real rice.
Before becoming an award-winning restaurant critic for OC Weekly in 2007, Edwin Goei went by the alias “elmomonster” on his blog Monster Munching, in which he once wrote a whole review in haiku.