Are Nigerian food vendors merchants of deaths?

Every living thing – human beings, animals and indeed plants - need food and water to live. They are one of the basic necessities of life, the other two being clothing and shelter. Ironically, many Nigerians are being fed with poisons in the name of food. A visit to our foodstuff markets will reveal to discerning minds that many of the raw food offered for sale are not fit for human consumption. They are either adulterated or contaminated.

Nutrition experts said many of the chemicals used to preserve most of the foods on sale in Nigeria are dangerous to human health. Some of the poultry products on sale in our markets are preserved with poisonous chemicals. An April 29, 2016 report in Thisday newspaper entitled “Imported Frozen Poultry Product as a Silent Killer” stated that “Medical experts have noted that these imported products are poisonous because smugglers use formalin, to preserve and keep them fresh from neighboring countries till it gets to Nigeria. Formalin is a cancer causing chemical capable of initiating liver and kidney diseases.” Even local butchers have been accused of using formalin to drive away flies from their meat while some fruit sellers used it as well to preserve their fruits from going bad quickly. I have also watched a clip where some frozen chickens were being injected with steroids to increase their sizes.

In order to reduce or totally prevent post-harvest loses, many commercial farmers use all manner of toxic pesticides and insecticides to preserve their grains. Some of the chemicals applied are supposed to be for six months or a year but in situations where there are huge demands for such grains, they are prematurely brought to the market for sale. With the toxicity levels of these products still high, they end up posing health challenges to consumers.     

Some  plantain and banana sellers are alleged to be using ashes and carbide to forcefully ripen their products. This is a dangerous practice as it constitutes health hazards to consumers. Many women who go shopping at the local markets will bear me witness of the many adulterated products being offered for sale. It ranges from rice, to beans, garri, yam flour, cassava flour, grinded pepper, egusi, groundnut oil, palm oil to honey and all sorts. Only experienced women and men know how to spot the difference between the fake and the original.

Some canned foods are not left out. They are either fake or expired; yet they are offered for sale to unsuspecting members of the public. Same goes for many of the bottled drinks. There is a raging controversy that many of the soft drinks contain certain amount of pesticides. Early this year, a Lagos High Court ruled that high levels of benzoic acid and additives in some soft drinks could pose a health risk to consumers when mixed with ascorbic acid, commonly known as Vitamin C. There is also the fear that the sugar contents of many of the soft drinks produced for consumption in Nigeria is too high and makes consumers prone to obesity and diabetes.

Due to epileptic power supply, many of the restaurants, cafeteria and bukataria (some call them cholera joints) operating in Nigeria are said to use all manner of preservatives whose chemical compositions may not be health friendly. That’s why some of the meals offered for sale there have funny taste.  As I write this, despite the warning by Honourable Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh for Nigerians to stop the habit of cooking moimoi (beans paste) with cellophane (nylon) bags, the practice is still sustained in many households.

It will be recalled that Ogbeh made the disclosure on June 2, 2016 when he spoke at the public hearing on Food Security Bill, organised by the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development in Abuja. According to him, cellophane bags contain a large dosage of dioxins that are harmful to health. He advised lovers of the delicacy to make use of leaves in the preparation rather than cellophane, adding that leaves do not contain such poisonous substance.

 Ogbeh, a farmer with decades of experience, said beans and grains preserved with over dosage of pesticides by farmers and sellers had killed many unsuspecting Nigerians. He also said the consumption of (pure) water in sachets exposed to sun at over 28 degree Celsius was poisonous and its consumption responsible for many cases of kidney and liver failure among Nigerians. The minister said poorly boiled meat could cause tuberculosis. He warned further that the wrong application of fertiliser by farmers has also led to consumption of poisonous foods. “Unknown to many farmers, there is specific fertiliser for specific crops in specific states in line with soil texture’’, he said. Despite this timely warning more than a year ago, Nigerians still carry on with scant regards for food safety.

Food safety is very important but our people cared less about it. Often times, I see women using road sides to dry cassava flour and grains such as guinea corn, maize, rice and the likes. This is a dangerous practice. It is the mishandling of our food that led to many instances of families dying or having running stomach after meal. It would be recalled that in June 2015, the local gin, popularly known as ogogoro reportedly killed 70 people in Woji and Gokana communities of Rivers State. Nnanna Onyekwere, the Director Public Health Services, Rivers Ministry of Health, while confirming the deaths told the News Agency of Nigeria in Port Harcourt that two of the survivors had visual impairment. The deaths were recorded as a result of contamination of the locally brewed drink.  It is most disheartening that our government is trying to promote genetically modified organism better known as GMO food consumption. It is widely believed that they are unsafe.

It is imperative for Nigerian health officials responsible for food safety and security to redouble their efforts to educate Nigerians about the dangers of some of the foods and drinks being consumed in this country. National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, Ministry of Health, especially Department of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Environmental Health Officers or Sanitary Inspectors, National Orientation Agency and Nigerian media among others have a big role to play in sensitizing, the public and confiscating as well as arresting  anyone who imports or locally manufactures dangerous foods and drinks. There is no gainsaying that many of the itemised unwholesome practices in the handling of Nigerian foods are what is responsible for the rise in incidences of cancer, kidney, heart and liver failures, hypertension, diabetes and indeed premature deaths. A stich in time saves nine!

Follow me on twitter @jideojong