Fact Check: Don't panic, Ashirwad Atta is safe for consumption

Hyderabad: Several social media users have shared a video leveling serious allegations against ITC. Users claim Ashirwad Atta contains plastic.

Similar posts can be seen here and here.

In the viral videos, you can see a woman washing a handful of wheat dough under a water tap until it turns into a sticky slime-like ball. The woman then calls the sticky remains to be the added plastic in the Ashirwad atta.

The viral video alerts and advises people to avoid buying the brand and also urges ITC and FSSAI to look into the matter.

Let's get into the details.

Fact Check

NewsMeter found the claim to be false.

We started our investigation by performing a keyword search online and found a tweet on the official X handle of ITC Limited featuring Dr. Jagdish Pal, Executive Director of Protein Foods and Nutrition Development Association of India dated 4th March 2018. In the video, Dr. Pal could be seen repeating the viral claim of Ashirwad atta being mixed with plastic.

He said: “There is a video, I have seen floating around saying that there is plastic material in Ashirwad atta. This is a false and malicious kind of video giving a very wrong impression. All Attas have gluten and when mixed with water the atta becomes a pliable sort of plastic and from this, you make the dough that is necessary to make chapatis or bread. Gluten is an essential part of atta. Gluten must be there at least 6 to 8% to be considered as good quality atta. This is a requirement by the Food Safety and Standard Authority of India (FSSAI). So, when you prepare atta out of the wheat at home or chucky you will get a similar kind of atta and you can check this at home by adding water to see whether this kind of experiment can be done.”

Moving forward, on the official website of FSSAI, we found a myth buster section that reads, “Wheat flour naturally contains 2 proteins – Glutenin- for elasticity & Gliadin- for the raising of dough. In the presence of water, these 2 proteins bond together to create an elastic network of proteins called gluten strings. Gluten is the rubbery mass that is left when wheat flour dough is washed with water & this is maliciously referred to as plastic.”

Not only this, taking to the official Facebook page, Ashirwad Atta uploaded a video explaining the phenomenon behind the lump of wheat turning into a little heap of slime.

Digging deep into the matter, we also found media outlets covering and bursting the same misinformation of plastic being mixed in Ashirwad atta on the Hindu Business Line and Times of India.

Lastly, according to a media report in The Economic Times dated 12th March 2018, ITC Limited received a favorable order from the Bengaluru civil court barring the circulation of fake videos on social media that wrongly claim that Ashirwad atta has plastic.