A Shipment Of "Plastic Rice" Seized In Nigeria

The fake food hustle is still going strong in countries around the world, and the targets of the scam are usually poor people in third world countries who can't afford to do anything about being ripped off.But these fake food scams are typically small operations selling products that aren't necessarily deadly when ingested, and many more fake food incidents are simply urban myths spread to keep people on their toes.
However, a two and a half ton shipment of "Best Tomato Rice" was intercepted in Nigeria and is currently being tested- because the rice may be nothing but grain shaped pieces of plastic:

Lagos customs chief Haruna Mamudu said the fake rice was intended to be sold in markets during the festive season.
He said the rice was very sticky after it was boiled and "only God knows what would have happened" if people ate it.
It is not clear where the seized sacks came from but rice made from plastic pellets was found in China last year.
"Whoever made this fake rice did an exceptionally good job" says the BBC's Martin Patience, "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.