Seized rice not ‘plastic’ but unfit for consumption – NAFDAC

Following the seizure of consignment by the Nigerian Customs suspected to be “plastic rice”, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) on Thursday, in Abuja said although the product was not plastic as speculated it was not fit for consumption.

It said, based on laboratory result, the rice was found contaminated with micro-organisms above permissible limit.

The Acting Director-General NAFDAC, Mrs. Yetunde Ani revealed this at a joint briefing with the Comptroller General (CG) Nigeria Customs Service, Colonel Hameed Ali on the quality of the suspected fake rice consignment seized by the Customs Service.

According to her, the product, branded “Best Tomato” was in 25kg pack size “without NAFDAC number, no batch number, no date markings and no details of the manufacturer.”

She said the preliminary result of the analysis was first conveyed to the Minister for Health, Professor Issac Adewole while awaiting the comprehensive result.

Ani explained that the rice was tested based on 14 parameters which are:”floating – Negative, sedimentation- Positive, cooking- Normal, Odour-normal, colour- off-white grains, moisture 13% (within specification), pre-ashing- normal, ash- 0.6% (within specification) , lead and cadmium- not detected.”

Others are:”Aerobic mesophillic count- 2x10cfu (above maximum limits), mould- 5.1x10cfu (within specification), Coli form- 7.5x10cfu (above maximum limits), E-coli-<3cfu (within specification), Packaging – does not conform to NAFDAC Pre-packaging food labeling regulations 2005.”

“Based on the above laboratory result, the product is not plastic, but rice contaminated with micro-organisms 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,” she said.

She, however, assured that the agency would continue to partner with the Customs to intensify vigilance and surveillance activities at all entry ports and boarders in the country.

Earlier, the CG Customs, Col. Ali explained that the consignment was intercepted based on credible intelligence received from the Office of the National Security Adviser, stating that large consignments of plasticized rice were said to be shipped from the far East to Africa.

“As the largest market for imported rice in Africa, Customs took the alert seriously and charged officers to watch out for such imports that do not conform with regulatory requirements,” he said.

The CG, who spoke through the Deputy CG in charge of Tariff and Trade, Umaru Iya Abubakar said when the consignment of the said Rice were brought to 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 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.

“Irrespective of the outcome of the laboratory analysis, Customs will remain vigilant and alive to its responsibilities. We are still guided by the intelligence we have which indicates that several metric tonnes of expired and dangerous rice are still lying in wait at warehouses in neighbouring countries,” he stated.