Fake rice in Nigeria was seized after it was suspected of being smuggled into the country from China, and authorities are alerting people of the dangers of cooking this particular rice.
Nigeria seized over 100 bags of fake plastic rice amid “rocketing” prices during the holiday season, The Guardian reported.
A suspect has been arrested, and officials said Wednesday that the rice is dangerous for human consumption.
The bags of rice are suspected to have been smuggled into Nigeria from China via Lagos port, according to a senior customs official in Nigeria.
The bags, which are branded “Best Tomato Rice,” had no date printed on them.
“We have done a preliminary analysis of the plastic rice,” said Mohammed Haruna, a customs controller in the Ikeja area, where the bags were intercepted on Monday, according to The Guardian. "After boiling, it was sticky and only God knows what would have happened if people consumed it."
Haruna said the more than two tons of bags filled with fake rice were going to be sold in different markets over the holidays, BBC News reported.
China is the suspected place where the fake bags of rice came from based on a past incident where rice made from plastic pellets were found at the same port in Lagos last year, RT noted.
The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control are currently taking a further look into the matter.
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