Recent
reports of plastic rice in Nigeria were untrue as the suspicious shipment
merely contained a significant amount of contaminants, the National Agency for
Food and Drug Administration and Control has said.
The acting
Director-General of the agency, Yetunde Oni, at a press briefing on Thursday in
Abuja, said though the rice was found not to be plastic, contrary to media
reports, it was still “unwholesome for human consumption”.
There was anxiety in
country earlier this month when a report stated that the Nigerian Custom
Services had intercepted tonnes of plastic rice allegedly imported by
unscrupulous businessmen for distribution during the Christmas festive period.
The Minister of Health,
Isaac Adewole, however debunked the report after some preliminary studies
revealed otherwise.
He said there was no
truth in the report and assured Nigerians that there was no cause for alarm.
However, the laboratory
result which was made public Thursday confirmed the earlier declaration by the
minister.
Mrs. Oni however said
that the rice failed other integrity test which thus ruled it out for human
consumption.
No comments:
Post a Comment