A video on Facebook (FB) is making the rounds online, claiming to show how “fake, plastic rice” is made. The original video shows plastic waste being processed at a recycling plant for mats and rugs but not for rice as alleged.
Published on Feb. 12, the video was published by an FB page and continues to circulate this week. It bore the caption:
“Plastic Peke na Bigas. Ganito pala proseso at Paggagawa (Fake plastic rice. So this is how it’s processed and made).”
The two-minute video allegedly shows footage of sacks of plastic waste being washed and processed into artificial rice. According to the claim of the video narrator, the plastic waste is turned into small pellets shaped similarly to rice grains, which would then be mixed with rice sold to consumers..
This is not true. The plastic pellets shown in this video are not being passed off as rice.
Two copies published on TikTok and Facebook as early as November last year showed plastic waste being processed at a recycling plant. They made no claims that the product would be sold as food.
At the end of the video, an email address of an Indian company called Shamali Polymats appeared. According to its website, Shamali Polymats specializes in manufacturing mats and rugs using polypropylene plastic, which is a type of recyclable plastic.
The false claim of the video narrator was called out by some netizens in the comment section, criticizing him for spreading wrong information just to get social media engagements.
The video emerged after a report from the United States’ Department of Agriculture said that the Philippines is projected to import 3.9 million metric tons of rice this year, making the country the top importer of the grain product this year.
The spurious video was published by FB page Ka Baryo Tv (created on Feb. 3, 2022) and garnered over 26,000 reactions, 9,100 comments, 15,000 shares and 4.5 million views.
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(Editor’s Note: VERA Files has partnered with Facebook to fight the spread of disinformation. Find out more about this partnership and our methodology.)