Bought this in store on 12/16/2022. Someone had mentioned (in a review) finding bugs in their rice, so instead of just putting the bag on our shelf until we needed to get into it, I thought it would be good to transfer the rice to a few smaller buckets - while making sure everything looked OK.
Right away I was seeing black stuff and unhulled rice grains. Never did see any evidence of bugs. However, there was enough other "stuff" that we took a few hours of time to try and do a general sort/review of the rice. Was definitely a hassle, but we found a lot.
Apparently we didn't find everything in those few hours because I thought it would also be good to cook some and try it out.. Rice was good. But there was an unhulled rice grain in that first batch we cooked - and at least one small black object.
We haven't run into this volume of stuff in other white rice that we've purchased.
We were pleased with the lower price of the rice compared to other brands that were available. Generally we have bought name brand white, or brown rice.
One concern we had was how much chemicals may be in the rice. Our definite preference is organic, but, it's expensive and we thought for this bag we would try a lower cost option.
I contacted the URL on the bag (SamsClub.com/MembersMarkHelp) and did a chat to find out if what we found is considered normal. And, here, a complication is that our membership lapsed between the time we bought the bag and today. Anyways, chat tech recommended we take the receipt, and the rice bag in to the customer service desk for a refund.
First, what a hassle. I've never had a quick or easy experience at a Sams Club customer service desk. There are other wholesale membership stores where I don't mind stopping by customer service - but, Sams Club? I try to avoid the customer service counter.
Second, I don't necessarily want to return the rice and get a refund so we can get a new bag. We spent SEVERAL HOURS going through this bag. The rice now is cleaner and better sifted and more ready for eating.
So, Members Mark lived up to their satisfaction guarantee (money back) even for someone who chose to let their membership lapse for awhile, but I was not thrilled with having to spend a few hours sorting through everything.
I don't know if this is normal for Member's Mark Long Grain rice or not - but I do know that this is less expensive rice than we usually buy and I don't recall running into this with name brand bags of rice.
So, in summary:
- OK with the quality of the rice
- Not pleased with the sifting quality
- Hopefully this rice doesn't have tons of chemicals that were sprayed on it but I doubt there is any way to know that...
I'll upload a photo so you can see what we found. The left side is the "stuff", right side shows normal rice for comparison sake.
Customer reviews for Member's Mark Long Grain White Rice, 50 lbs. for
