Nigeria's 'plastic rice' real but inedible

Around 100 bags of "plastic rice" seized in Lagos have turned out to contain real but contaminated rice, authorities said Friday in Nigeria, where prices for the staple have rocketed. Tests on the rice have shown that the product is "not plastic but ... contaminated with micro-organisms above the permissible limit" and therefore unfit for human consumption, according to the National Agency for Foods and Drugs Administration and Control.
Authorities said there were still "several metric tonnes of expired and dangerous rice" in warehouses in neighbouring countries destined for Nigerian markets. Customs would "intensify their patrols" to make sure the inedible staple did not make it onto Nigerian plates. Officials have not said where the impounded consignment of 102 50-kilogramme (110-pound) bags of contaminated rice came from nor how it entered Nigeria, where rice prices have doubled over the year.