Fact-Check: Are Plastic Rice Smuggled into Nigeria?
Claim: A viral video circulating on social media claims that smugglers have imported grains of rice being produced from rubber or plastic materials into Nigeria
In the video, a man wearing a Barcelona Football Club jersey is seen in a factory, handling what appears to be heated plastic emerging from a machine, while a conveyor belt transports the material toward a repackaging area.
A woman’s voice is heard in the background, alleging that this is how rice is manufactured. She warns viewers to carefully inspect their rice before consumption, claiming it is not organic, and ends her narration with a prayer for divine protection.
Verification: While verifying the claim, PRNigeria logically assessed the economic viability of manufacturing plastic rice. It concluded that producing rice from plastic would be significantly more expensive than growing real rice, making it an unappealing venture for any profit-driven manufacturer.
Further investigation revealed that the claims and videos suggesting rice is made from plastic are hoaxes.
According to Dr. Nanung Danar Dono, Vice Chair of the UGM Halal Center, if rice were truly made from plastic, it would not behave like real rice when cooked. “Plastic polymers only melt or deform under heat; they do not expand like rice,” he explained. “If plastic rice were heated, it would simply turn into hot, molten plastic—not soft, cooked rice.”
He urged the public to verify viral information and not to accept such claims at face value.
In a separate investigation, PRNigeria cited Professor Chris Elliott, a food safety expert and founder of the Institute for Global Food Security at Queen’s University Belfast, who has spent years studying rice fraud.
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“The first red flag is economic,” he said. “Plastic is more expensive than rice. So, making rice out of plastic doesn’t make sense.”
Elliott explained that what people have dubbed “plastic rice” is actually old, poorly stored rice, sometimes kept for up to a decade. These grains often become moldy and turn green. Fraudsters then bleach the rice to restore its white color, which strips it of its natural shine. To make it appear fresh again, they coat it with paraffin wax. This paraffin prevents the rice from cooking properly, causing it to remain hard and rubbery—leading consumers to believe it’s made of plastic.
PRNigeria also performed a frame-by-frame analysis of the viral video and conducted reverse image searches using Yandex. The results showed that the so-called “plastic rice” shown in the video was actually recycled plastic pellets.
Pellets are small, compressed pieces of material used in various industries. They can be made from:
Wood, for fuel
Plastic, as raw material for plastic products
Animal feed, compact food for livestock
Air gun ammo, used in pellet guns
Pharmaceuticals,for controlled drug delivery
During the investigation, PRNigeria found a similar report from the Chinese news site Xinhuanet.com.
After translating the article with the aid of Google translate, it was discovered that the video in question has been a similar video circulating since 2011 and depicts a plastic granulation process in a recycling facility, and not rice production. The video shows recycled plastic pellets being produced using pelletizer machines. These granules are often used as cushioning material for packaging and transportation.
Conclusion: The video currently circulating on social media does not show rice being made from plastic, but rather plastic being recycled into pellets for industrial use.
Verdict: PRNigeria concludes that the claim suggesting rice grains are made from recycled plastic is FALSE.
By PRNigeria
