Garlic Prices Rise Due to Abnormal Weather
"Mixed with Real Garlic... Difficult to Distinguish"
As garlic prices soar in India, cases of selling 'fake garlic' made from cement are increasing.
On the 20th (local time), according to local media such as India Today, a woman living in Akola, Maharashtra, in central-west India, recently went shopping and bought 250g of garlic from a street vendor. When the woman returned home and tried to peel the garlic, the garlic skin hardly came off. Curious, she examined the inside of the garlic and found a rough gray cross-section. It was confirmed to be 'cement garlic' sold in India.
According to the media, due to abnormal weather conditions reducing garlic supply and causing prices to surge, cases of selling fake garlic have been occurring frequently. Those selling fake garlic painted the surface white to hide the dark cement color and even attached fake roots covered with soil at the bottom.
The woman who purchased the fake garlic warned others through her social networking service (SNS). She said, "They mix fake garlic with real garlic and sell it, so I had no choice but to be deceived," and pointed out, "Street vendors are disguising fake garlic as real garlic, which is an act harmful to public health."
Netizens who came across the story reacted with comments such as, "It was India, not China," "It would be hard to distinguish if mixed with real garlic," "No matter how expensive garlic is, making it out of cement is too much," and "The person who bought the garlic must be baffled."
Meanwhile, recently in India, garlic prices have surged from 300 rupees (about 4,700 won) to 350 rupees (5,500 won) per kilogram.
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