Nigeria’s food safety agency has denied claims by the health minister that it has cleared the reported “plastic” rice.
A senior official at the National Agency For Food and Drugs (Nafdac) said the minister’s Twitter statement “is not their position”.
Health Minister Isaac Adewole had tweeted that tests by the agency found “no evidence” of plastic material.
About 2.5 tonnes of the “plastic” rice has been confiscated.
Rice is Nigeria’s staple food and it is a tradition for people to give bags of rice as a gift during the Christmas period.
Lagos customs chief Haruna Mamudu said on Wednesday the fake rice was intended to be sold during the festive season but has not commented on the health minister’s statement.
The official at Nafdac told the BBC’s Stephanie Hegarty that the tests were still ongoing:
“We are not done with comprehensive tests. We are still in the laboratory. We haven’t concluded analysis and it is not something we can conclude in two days.”
“We are yet to conclude the chemical and biological analysis,” he added.
Mr Adewole had said the agency would “release detailed findings to public as soon as it concludes investigations”, adding that Nigerians should remain calm.
It is not clear where the 102 seized sacks of rice came from but rice made from plastic pellets was found in China last year.
Mr Mamudu had said the rice was very sticky after it was boiled and “only God knows what would have happened” if people ate it.
The BBC’s Martin Patience in Lagos, who felt the rice, said it looked real but had a faint chemical odour.
The Lagos customs chief had called on “economic saboteurs who see yuletide season as a peak period for their nefarious acts to desist from such illegal” business activity.
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