A huge shipment of plastic rice was confiscated by Nigerian customs officers recently. This confiscation has prevented a potentially devastating health crisis.
The plastic looks and feels like real rice. It is made to even seem like real rice when cooked. It is likely to have fooled a large amount of people if it got through and made its way into the country. There were 102 sacks that contained 55 pounds of plastic rice under the brand name “Best Tomato Rice.” The origins of the shipment are not known and we are unsure if it has made its way into the food supply as of yet. There has been talk of about one hundred more bags possibly in the food supply.
Finding this shipment is a big deal and should be considered an enormous win for the people of Nigeria. We need to be aware of this issue and pay much closer attention to the foods coming into each country. Disaster can come from things like this, disasters that if proper measures are taken can be avoided.
This is not the first time ‘plastic’ rice has been found trying to make its way into other countries. Something needs to be done to prevent the creation of these ‘fake’ products. It appears nowadays people will do anything to cut corners and make their product sell without putting anything into it. This needs to be dealt with and not cast aside. We are already drowning in GMOs and pesticide riddled foods, this is disgusting.