RICE has been hogging headlines lately.

Prices of our staple grain doubled in the first half of the year, then started dropping in June. Yet, even now prices are way higher than what they used to be last year.

A 5kg bag of house brand white rice at NTUC FairPrice that cost $4.70 last September, for example, costs $7.45 now.

Since the price hikes for rice, along with price jumps for other essentials like oil and bread, The Straits Times has received numerous letters and calls from consumers asking for tips on why this was happening.

It is all linked to supply and demand, I said, explaining to them that everything - from the recent goverment-imposed bans on export to fuel prices - affected the price of the bowl of rice they were tucking into.

Some understood, many didn't.

One asked: But, isn't rice made from flour?

Tracing that grain of rice in Thailand to research this week's Saturday Special Report brought me through the lush paddy fields of Thailand, into the intricate world of zig-zagging conveyor belts at the most prestigious mill in Singapore and, fianally, to the Pasir Panjang wharf here.

I never knew so much work went into every single grain.

In concrete-floored research centres all over Thailand hundreds of scientists cross breed rice grains from samples collected from all over Thailand in search for the most pest resistant strain to cross breed and multiply.

The resultant grain is dispersed to farmers working on light-green fields in central Thailand and up in the North. There, they toil for months before they harvest grain to truck to mills.

At mills the grain is measured, polished, cleaned and packed for large vessels that take about five days to arrive to Singapore where it is stored in a warehouse for a month before it hits supermarkets and provision shops here.

Yet, although we live in a small island that imports more than 90 per cent of our food, relatively few can tell you where their next meal comes from.

And if a recent survey is anything to go by, few care.

An Internet survey released by AC Nielsen on Sept 16 revealed that only 19 per cent of consumers always check food packaging labels – a figure that remains unchanged from 2005.

But should we care?

The latest scare emerging from China - when melamine was added to milk products, killing four infants in the country and affecting thousands all over the world - suggests we should.

The realisation: Just how vulnerable we are as a country relying solely on imports.

Already, authorities are sitting up. On Oct 1, the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) announced that a new forensic unit will be set up next month to gather information from traders, importers, consumers and counterparts in other countries.

The aim: To get industry information, for example, on which manufacturers and importers are dependable.

If the authorities are realising the need for tighter controls, it is likely that those who consume the food should play a part.

After all as National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan mentioned, when he visisted an AVA lab in Lim Chu Kang on Oct 1, we as consumers have to play a part by taking notice of what we put in our mouths.

Two tips he provided: Consumers should start reading labels and make sure the food they eat is prepared in a hygenic manner.

Consumers might be starting to take matters into their own hands as well.

During a walk between the asiles of a Sheng Siong outlet three days ago I was faced with consumers pointing at labels and twittering amongst themselves.

"Is this product from China?" one asks.

View an audio slideshow and read Jessica's stories from The Saturday Special Report here.