‘Miniket’ rice continue to deceive consumers

Rice millers and traders continue to deceive people across Bangladesh into thinking a kind of slender, glossy, long-grained husked rice known as Miniket to be a genuine variety of rice.

Despite denial from the government, agriculturists and nutritionists, a number of millers and traders are still insisting that Miniket is a genuine variety of rice and marketing it under the same brand name.

Kushtia-based millers are the main producer of Miniket rice available in the market.

Mohammad Shahjalal Prodhan, owner of M/s Dada Agro Food Products at Khazanagar in Kushtia, claimed to The Business Post that their Miniket brand rice was a genuine variety and its seed first came from bordering areas of India.

“We market Miniket rice without any modification. We collect the rice from growers in both northern and southern districts. There is no health hazard in Miniket,” said a confident Shahjalal.

Jahurul Haque, executive director of another Miniket giant Rashid Agro Food Products Limited at Poradah in Kushtia, told The Business Post that their Miniket rice was just a brand. “The name came from India and it became popular and we picked the word as our brand considering its popularity,” he said.

Jahurul said actually their Miniket rice was a fine variety of rice known as Zirashail or Zira and they collect it from Jashore, Jhenaidah, Naogaon and Rajshahi and market it across the country but Sylhet under Miniket brand. In Sylhet region, they market it under the brand “Zira”.

Jahurul said some small millers might manipulate other rice such as BRRI 28 and BRRI 29 by thinning and polishing and market it as Miniket.

“We are not involved in such acts. We have been in the rice business for the past 40 years and our brand value is high,” he added.

Food minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder at a programme ahead of the National Food Safety Day 2021 on February 17 said that the ministry had formed a committee to delve into the issue of Miniket rice and the committee reported that Miniket was just a brand of processed rice.

“Millers produce this slender rice from various varieties of rice through ‘polish’, ‘medium polish’, and ‘fine polish’ processes,” he said.

According to the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute, there are 106 varieties of paddy in Bangladesh and there is nothing called Miniket.

Scientists at the institute said the name Miniket might be derived from ‘mini kit’ as in the 1970s Indian agriculture ministry had provided farmers with some mini kits for trial of some varieties. The name might come from there as farmers then began calling some fine rice as Miniket, they said.

The institute’s chief scientific officer Dr Khandaker Md Iftekharuddaula, also head of its plant breeding department, told The Business Post that collecting various coarse varieties of rice, millers thin, sharpen and polish those with sophisticated instruments.

“There is no health benefit in Miniket rice. As the outer layer of rice is removed by machine, rice loses protein, vitamins and zinc. Just carbohydrate remains after the process and it helps us only by being fatty,” said Iftekharuddaula.

Dr Kazi Muhammad Rezaul Karim, associate professor of the Institute of Nutrition and Food Science at Dhaka University, said for attracting the consumers, millers cut and thin coarse rice and then polish it causing loss of nutrients. “Such rice should be avoided,” he said.

Bangladesh Food Safety Authority member Manzur Morshed Ahmed told The Business Post that there was no rice variety named Miniket.
“It’s just a brand. Millers thin and polish other rice and market it under this brand. There is no health hazard in it. Thinning and polishing is common in all rice growing countries,” he said.

Mohammad Nur Hossain, a rice wholesaler at Karwan Bazar, said he had been in the rice business for the past 15 years and found Miniket rice much more popular among consumers than other varieties.

“Actually, it is thinned and sharpened coarse rice and one kind of powder is also used for whitening it,” said Nur Hossain.

Mohammed Hasmat, a retailer at Shukrabad kitchen market, said they heard that toxic powder, urea fertiliser and wax are used to polish rice which is marketed as Miniket.

“Despite knowing it, we sell this rice because of high demand from customers. Most of the consumers of Miniket rice are from a comparatively high-income group. They are least interested in other varieties of rice,” said Hasmat.