An official with the agriculture ministry has warned consumers not to buy the strange rice variety currently available in Ho Chi Minh City that is suspected to contain plastic.

Since mid-February, many city residents have said they have been offered the rice by vendors at VND10,500, much lower than the price of normal rice (VND14,000-VND15,000).

The rice looks very beautiful as it is thinner and longer, and has no broken grains, they’d said, adding that they stretched elastically as well.

Nguyen Tri Ngoc, director of the Cultivation Department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, said Saturday he has asked relevant agencies to take samples of the strange rice variety for testing before coming to conclusions about what kind of rice it was.

“Until official results are released by the authorities, residents should not consume this rice variety,” Ngoc said.

Vietnamese rice companies had last month said it was unlikely that a kind of Chinese rice, said to be made of potatoes, sweet potatoes and plastic, was being sold in local markets. They were responding to a Korea Times report that said the fake rice was being sold in China’s Shaanxi Province.