…Cautions against consumption
The federal operations unit (FOU) Zone-A of the Nigeria Customs Service, (NCS), has cautioned the consumption of imported rice following the discovery of toxic contents in the commodity.
The alarm was raised on Thursday by the Acting Controller of the unit, Hussein Ejibunu, at a media conference in Lagos.
He said it was discovered that some imported rice were unhealthy for human consumption after a laboratory test was conducted by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, (NAFDAC), on some seized rice.
Ejibunu said the test revealed the presence of lead — a toxic metallic element — in some of the products. “Pursuant to the Federal Government’s policy that encourages local production of rice against the importation of foreign parboiled rice, this Unit had seized 7,259 of 50 kg bags of rice, an equivalent of over twelve (12) truckloads”, he said.
“Sequel to a laboratory test analysis on some previously seized foreign parboiled rice by NAFDAC, one of the test parameters indicated some contents of lead (a soft heavy toxic malleable metallic element) in the tested rice.
“This is making the rice unfit for human consumption”, he emphasised.
According to him, upon the laboratory analysis, and as a responsible government agency, the unit is letting Nigerians know that, apart from the negative economic impact of importing foreign rice, some of them are unhealthy for human consumption.
He, therefore, advised consumers to desist from patronising the Federal Government’s banned foreign parboiled rice.
