The imported rice seized by the Customs and labelled as plastic rice is not plastic after all. But it is unfit for human consumption.

The report of the laboratory test conducted on the rice by the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration Control (NAFDAC), ruled it out as not plastic but unfit for eating.

There was panic early this month when Customs officials intercepted a consignment of “imported plastic rice” meant for sale during the Yuletide.

Minister of Health Prof. Isaac Adewole debunked the report after preliminary tests revealed otherwise.

The final result announced yesterday by NAFDAC said the  rice failed other integrity tests which ruled it out for human consumption.

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Acting Director-General of NAFDAC Mrs Yetunde Oni said the rice is contaminated and should be destroyed.

Mrs. Oni  spoke with reporters alongside Deputy Comptroller-General of the Nigerian Custom Services (NCS), Mr. Umar Ilya.

She said: “Based on the above laboratory result, the product is not plastic but rice contaminated with microorganisms above permissible limit, hence the seized rice consignment is unsatisfactory and therefore unwholesome for human consumption.

“The consignment upon handover by the Nigeria Customs Service shall be destroyed.”

Ilya said irrespective of the outcome of the findings, the service would continue to do its work by ensuring that fake and banned goods were not allowed into the country.

He said part of the over 40,000 bags of rice seized in recent time, were sent to the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps.

The Comptroller-General also noted that as part of the move to curb illegal importation, the service had decided to henceforth apart from seizing the goods, confiscate the means of transporting them.

Responsive

He said: “Irrespective of the laboratory analysis, the Customs would remain vigilant and alive to its responsibilities. We were guided by the intelligence we received which indicated that some metric tonnes of expired and dangerous rice were lying at warehouses in neighboring countries. The target of these products is the Nigerian markets. We will therefore intensify our patrols to ensure that economic saboteurs do not succeed.

“We will urge warehouse owners across the country not to accept such smuggled products in their facilities. We enjoin transporters to reject moving such products as under the law, both smuggled products and the means of conveyance are liable to seizure. We will rely on the synergy with NAFDAC, and other agencies of Government to ensure that only rice that is certified fir for human consumption is allowed on our shores.”

Explaining the circumstances surrounding the alleged plastic rice,  Ilya said the service responded to security alert issued by the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA)on the importation of plastic rice into the country.

“You may recall that recently, our operatives in Lagos intercepted a consignment of rice, based on credible intelligence.

“As the largest market for imported rice in Africa, the Customs took the alert seriously and charged officers to watch out for such imports.

“When the consignments of rice in question were brought to the customs warehouse, our apprehension became heightened when we observed glaring lapses in the packaging. The bags of rice had no NAFDAC number, batch number, manufacturing or expiry dates. We could also not see any detail about the manufacturers on the bag. We were left with no option than escalating our findings to the agency that is statutorily charged with the responsibility of confirming the true status of the import.

“As required by the law, officials of NAFDAC were invited to draw samples for laboratory analysis. However as we know social media works in our clime, the outcome we are about to hear today was pre-empted.”

The Nation