Rice rules trip up firms

Two UK rice companies have fallen foul of a code of practice designed to ensure rice sold as Basmati is the real deal.

In separate cases brought by Essex Trading Standards, rice importers Surya Rice and Basmati Rice (UK) both admitted supplying Basmati brands containing substantial amounts of non-Basmati grains - in one sample as much as 75%.

Surya Rice was fined £2,500 and ordered to pay costs of £6,294 under Section 14(1) of the Food Safety Act 1990 (selling food not of the quality demanded) by Colchester Magistrates Court, which heard that the company did not have the necessary procedures to stop non-Basmati grains slipping into a batch of Golden Foods Salaam Basmati Rice.

The same court fined Basmati Rice (UK) £2,700 with costs of £6,376 for supplying adulterated batches of Daily Fresh Basmati Rice and Henna Pak Basmati Rice.

Basmati from specified regions of Pakistan and India sells at a premium over other rice but in 2003 a Food Standards Agency survey revealed widespread adulteration of brands.

In an attempt to restore the product's reputation, a tighter threshold of 7% non-Basmati grains was laid down in a new UK Basmati Code of Practice, introduced in January and agreed by The Rice Association, the British Rice Miller's Association and the British Retail Consortium. The previous limit was 20%.

The UK is Europe's biggest Basmati consumer.