LAGOS:

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. (AFP)