There are several types of these "beads"*), and many of the types are edible. Some of them are made from corn (maize) and are slightly yellow, some are made from grain starch and are brownish, and some are made from rice and are white. There are also those that are made from "plastic" and come in all sorts of colours.
You'll discover at once wether they are edible if you bite thruogh them. The edible ones disolve in your mouth, the inedible ones don't.

Marius (Escort Cab + Mark II)
*) According to Douglas Adams, the universe's "dark matter" (missing mass) is actually composed of these beads that arrive in huge quantities, and nobody knows where they end up.