A Real Urban Legend? Plastic Rice Seized in Nigeria

At first, Nigerian officials didn’t notice anything unusual about the bags of rice. But on a closer inspection, they could detect a faint chemical smell, and when the “rice” was boiled, it was way too sticky to be normal rice. It turned out to be plastic rice. The customs chief in Nigeria’s largest city Lagos, Haruna Mamudu, said that the fake rice was intended to be sold on the city’s holiday markets.  “Only God knows what would have happened” if people ate it, he said.

Given that it was difficult enough for customs officials to recognize that the rice was fake, they have issued a warning for people to not eat rice that seems suspicious. A sample of the fake food has been sent to laboratories to be examined. It wasn’t clear where the bags that amounted to 2.5 tons had been shipped from, but since similar rice made from plastic pellets was seized in China last year, officials suspect that’s where they came from. The country’s surging food prices and a ban on imported rice, in an effort to boost local production, could be contributing factors. A bag of 50 kilos of rice now sells for around $63, which is more than twice as much as the price in December of last year. Rice is the most common food staple in Nigeria.

Nigeria has confiscated 102 bags of “plastic rice” smuggled into the country https://t.co/gDvxy27sGW

— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) December 21, 2016

The rice bags were marked “Best Tomato Rice,” and had no expiration date or manufacturing date printed on them. They were discovered in a store after a tip about a criminal plot to sell the fake rice to specific people in the city. One person has been arrested. According to Haruna Mamudu, the man made a helpful statement about the plot and said that he got the plastic rice from someone who wanted him to help distribute it. “Before now, I thought it was a rumour that the plastic rice is all over the country but with this seizure, I have been totally convinced that such rice exists,” Mamudu said.

Plastic rice is something of a media phenomenon, though it has many times been proven to be just a fake news story. Many stories have claimed that manufacturers mix real rice with plastic fake rice, or make “rice” out of potatoes and then add an industrial resin. According to Snopes these stories are unsubstantiated and false. But with these latest news from Nigeria, it seems like the urban legend may have given rise to a real story. BBC reporter Martin Patience was there and smelled the rice himself.

Whoever made this fake rice did an exceptionally good job–on first impression it would have fooled me. When I ran the grains through my fingers nothing felt out of the ordinary. But when I smelt a handful of the ‘rice’ there was a faint chemical odor. Customs officials say when they cooked up the rice it was too sticky–and it was then abundantly clear this was no ordinary batch.

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.