Ladesope Ladelokun 
Concerns continue to grow over the adulteration of food items and accompanying life-threatening effects. Many believe that the the need for regulatory agencies and other stakeholders to halt the sale of poisons in public places has become a pressing issue. LADESOPE LADELOKUN reports
Driven by the belief of getting value for her money at the Oyingbo Market in Lagos, Amarachi Okoli, had during a visit sought the advice of a trader on where to buy unadulterated palm oil. That is owing to her disappointing experiences at other markets in the state.
While she got lucky to get introduced to a palm oil merchant she described as reliable, she ended up being schooled on how to identify fake palm oil by her new customer.
“When I got to the market, I was asking people where I could buy pure, ‘unmixed’ palm oil. I eventually met a woman that took me to a shop. Right there at the shop, I saw two big bowls containing two variants of palm oil. One of the bowls contained palm oil that the redness was very bright. The other bowl had the one that was dull. But she opened up to me because of the person that brought me. She said the former was actually adulterated with ‘colouring’ (dye) to boost its appeal to customers, noting that the latter was the original palm oil despite its appearance. She added that the original palm oil cost N2,000 per bottle but the adulterated one was N1,500. I was told to have a taste of both. Indeed, they didn’t have the same taste.”
Why use of dye in palm oil is prevalent – Farmer
An Abeokuta-based farmer and a major palm oil dealer in the Wasimi area of Ogun State, Olusola Kusimo, told Sunday Telegraph that dealers face a lot of pressure from customers to adulterate palm oil. According to him, the demand for red(deep) palm oil is high and it is a major factor driving the use of dye to enhance the redness of palm oil to make it more appealing.
“I have customers within and outside the country. As I speak to you, there are people who singlehandedly paid for hundreds of palm oil kegs here, in America, and other places. They do not buy to consume. They buy to resell them. Some give me that responsibility. But the problem with palm oil here is that a great number of the retailers believe that the deeper the redness of palm oil, the more marketable it becomes. They pressurise the wholesalers to mix with dye and other additives. There was a time a dealer was trying to convince me to use dye. I simply told him ‘your family can consume it so that you start paying medical bills’. You see, everyone cannot be your customer. I cannot adulterate palm oil. I will not do it. I will never do that,” he asserted.
Revealing how some dealers shortchange customers to maximise profit, he said: “Some people boil one keg of hot water and mix it in five kegs of oil to maximise profit. And, when you go to Lagos, there is a proliferation of adulterated palm oil.”
Not just palm oil
Over the years, several reports have revealed how producers of food items compromise the health of Nigerians through dangerous additives. These additives have been found by experts to damage vital organs of the body and even lead to life-threatening diseases.
According to the World Health Organisation, an estimated 600 million – almost 1 in 10 people in the world – fall ill after eating contaminated food and 420 000 die every year.
It further added that $110 billion is lost each year in productivity and medical expenses, resulting from unsafe food in low- and middle-income countries.
With growing concerns in some quarters over what is deemed sky-high prices of foodstuffs, the fear of buying poison is another dose of worry.
More Nigerians speak
For Chidi Ezerie, buying palm oil in any part of Nigeria outside the South East is a no-no. “I buy my palm oil from the East. There is a proliferation of fake palm oil in Lagos. And I only eat fufu when I’m in the East. I returned from there recently and I bought loads of it. I know what they do with it here. I can’t imagine buying any fufu here.”
In what appears to question the efficiency of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), a processed pounded yam(poundo) producer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Sunday Telegraph how she allegedly bribed NAFDAC officials with N20,000 to get her product certified.
“NAFDAC is not playing a healthy role. I’m into poundo yam production. NAFDAC permits all sorts of things. I got food registration for my product. They didn’t come to my house o. When one of them came, I gave him N20,000, and I got my certificate.”
Another Nigerian, Peace Ibe(not real name), shared with Sunday Telegraph how her toddler narrowly escaped swallowing a sack thread hidden inside the biscuit she bought for her, calling on the relevant regulatory agencies to protect Nigerians.
“ I bought a pack of Yale biscuit for my baby. I just decided to take one or two pieces before giving the rest to her. Do you know what I saw inside after I ate one? I saw a sack thread. I was shocked. I made the video.”
Natural fruits, vegetables can still be toxic – Health Science Professor
Despite findings that fruits like Apples, Bananas and Mangoes are artificially ripened using Calcium Carbide, which is said to be unsafe for humans, some fruits have also been found to be naturally toxic.
Peter Spencer, professor of neurology and occupational health sciences at Oregon Health and Science University, in an interview with CNN revealed that many plants were not solely for the benefit of mankind but to protect themselves from predators, dismissing the notion that all natural things are good for human consumption.
“The idea that all natural things are good for you is rubbish. We are eating fruits and vegetables that potentially contain bad things.”
He explained further : “Raw Cashews come complete with a resin called Urushiol, which is the same compound that makes poison Ivy so awful. It can cause pretty serious skin rashes and can be toxic when ingested or even fatal for anyone with higher sensitivity to Urushiol. Now, if you’re wondering why you’ve been eating Cashews labeled “raw” and not had any problems, it’s because all commercial cashews are actually cooked to remove the shell. They’re sold raw because they have not been roasted or further processed, but they have been cooked, and that’s a good thing.”
On how cassava can be toxic, he added : “One of the most important sources of calories in Africa, South America and parts of Asia, cassava, fuels almost half a billion people around the world each day. But if not processed properly, Cassava can release Hydrogen Cyanide, which can wreak havoc on thyroid hormones as well as affecting parts of the brain relating to movement. Not to mention irreversible paralysis. That such an important source of nutrition is also so potentially toxic is vexing.”
Bromate,saccharine in bread as dangers
Last year, NAFDAC raised the alarm that loaves of bread sold in the markets were failing laboratory tests because producers use Saccharine due to the high cost of Sugar and other ingredients deemed dangerous to the health of consumers.
“Recently, we observed that bread sold in the markets is failing laboratory tests because producers are using Saccharine due to the high cost of Sugar.
“They are introducing ingredients that are not good for the health of the consumers.
“We are not unmindful of the prevailing economic challenges but the agency will not compromise its standards,” it stated.
In defence of bakers, the Chairman, Master Bakers Association in Abuja, Ishaak Abdulraheem, in an interview on Arise News said only “unregistered and illiterate bread bakers” use Saccharine.
Abdulraheem further stated that no modern baker would resort to the use of Saccharine. ‘’ If you are using Saccharine, for example, you are reducing the dough weight of your bread. Yes. If you are using 1kg of Sugar and you are using 10 grams of Saccharine, your volume will be very short.
“Forget about even the implications of health. So, it is not viable. It’s not profitable. So, that’s why I said a modern baker can never go for that. Particularly those of us in FCT. No, we have surpassed that level.
“There are improvers. Yes, there are different improvers. When you say improvers, Bromate is an improver. Bromate was discarded many years ago. Now even Nigerians are producing improvers of various types. There are companies that are producing improvers in Nigeria. Those Bromates are not produced in Nigeria. They import them.”
Concerns over detergent, ‘hypo’ in Fufu
Recently, the consumption of Fufu further raised safety concerns after a Nigeria Info FM Port Harcourt report exposed farmers using detergents to speed up Fufu fermentation.
According to the report, farmers in the Etche Local Government Area of Rivers State justified the addition of detergent to Cassava, noting that it speeds up fermentation.
“The Cassava is peeled, cut into smaller pieces, washed, and soaked in water. Normally, it takes about eight days to ferment but with detergent, it softens in two to four days,” Josephine Eke, a farmer in Isu community noted.
But Rivers farmers are not alone. In 2019, an investigation by The Hope discovered that many Fufu producers not only in Ondo, Ekiti, Osun and other states mix hypo and detergents with Cassava for it to ferment and swell to make more profit.
In 2020, the Osun State Government warned caterers and food vendors in the state to stop the dangerous act of using Paracetamol to tenderise meat and also the use of ‘hypo’ ,a bleaching detergent , for Cassava processing to induce ‘whiteness of Fufu and Garri.’
How Cancerous agents build up on blood money
Meanwhile, Chairman, Academy of Integrated Medicine and radiation therapist, Prof Ndubuisi Nwakakwa, said that due to the quest for money, unscrupulous elements engage in sharp practices to maximise their gains despite being detrimental to health.
“If it is not nature, there is nothing you can do to have nature through the laboratory. It is just like God has created humans. Some people have gone to create robots. A robot cannot be human.
“Therefore, all food manufacturers should ensure that what they are using is okay for human consumption. Once the natural ingredients are disturbed, they can never be natural again. How can you use Carbide to force fruits to ripe and you think that it is the same as fruits that fall naturally?
“It is not possible the nutrients will be the same. These are the things that build up Cancerous agents in them till it gets to a certain threshold, where it starts to manifest. Most of the things that we do, keep building up. Like I said, passive smokers suffer from lung cancer more than smokers because smokers’ cells continue to fight them. Some of them are solidifying that they don’t even have much effect. But somebody who just inhales comes and goes, the thing will start building up because the cancer cells will see those places as very fertile, a very good habitat for them to live and multiply. How do you make a two-week-old chicken lay eggs and you think it will not have adverse effects on consumers?”
He added: “Nature has made all these things that humans will carry babies for nine months, deliver, keep moving. Likewise other animals, birds, fishes. God has made it so. If you try to be faster than your shadow, or try to be faster than God, you will destroy yourself and that is what human beings are doing now. They are destroying themselves.”
On the need by producers of consumables to be extra careful, he said: “What we are saying is that before manufacturers use anything that will spread Cancer to the populace, they should investigate very well to ensure that all these things are consumables that will not have adverse effects. Anybody that does anything that kills people to make money, that money is blood money.
“There are many things that contribute to Cancer. Some of the food we eat, the way they are prepared, things that are added. If we investigate, people will be shocked that what they have been eating for long is harmful, just like people in the past didn’t know that Cigarettes cause Cancer until it was proven and shown.
“We should have on the ground those who are ready to investigate. Health personnel should come out. Let the world know that some of our actions, some of our activities are contributory factors to Cancer.”
We’re not only reactive, we’re proactive – NAFDAC
Commenting, Public Relations Officer, NAFDAC, Christiana Obiazikwo, told Sunday Telegraph that the agency was working tirelessly to ensure the safety of Nigerians.
“The Director General we have now is a no-nonsense person, when it comes to regulation. We’ve been doing a lot as per food, drugs and cosmetics. We have a programme on air to educate the people. We keep calling stakeholders’ meetings. We have been busy. We’ ve been arresting culprits. We have a lot of cases in court. Making arrests is not new to NAFDAC. If anyone buys anything they have complaints about, they can bring it to our office. We will take up from there. We are not just reactive, we are proactive.”
Reacting to allegations of bribery of NAFDAC officials to certify products fit for consumption, she said: “There is nothing like that. The process of registration is very open. People say all kinds of things to run NAFDAC down. You know when you are fighting corruption, corruption will fight back.”
FCCPC fails to react
When Sunday Telegraph reached out to the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission(FCCPC), which has, among other responsibilities to safeguard consumers’ rights and interests by addressing consumer complaints, investigating grievances, and ensuring that businesses adhere to fair and ethical practices, the Director of Corporate Affairs, Ondaje Ijagwu, failed to respond to several phone calls that rang out for almost a week and the message sent to him.
No one is safe
For public health expert, Dr Japhet Olugbogi, it is imperative for all hands to be on deck to fight the adulteration of food items, stressing everyone suffers its consequences.
“It is a cause for concern because a lot of people are adulterating food, household items. Take for instance, the addition of dye of various forms to food items. That is a criminal offence. NAFDAC certifies every food item that we consume. NAFDAC cannot change everyone that acts like that…we overlook a lot of things in Nigeria. We try to be our neighbour’s keeper when they are doing the wrong thing. Meanwhile, we are all at the receiving end. For instance, those whose products have been recognised to contain these poisonous items should be totally jettisoned. We are consuming a lot of poison. We are killing ourselves. There is a high prevalence of kidney, liver and heart diseases. The problem is that people don’t even have enough money to treat themselves and a lot of people are not even using health insurance. And a lot of hospitals are not treating Cancer patients because health insurance does not cover Cancer. A lot of people have to pay from their pockets and because of this, it is too expensive for them. So, you have a lot of people dying from ailments they shouldn’t ordinarily contract in the first place.
“So, a lot of Nigerians are eating poisonous substances and it is we (Nigerians) that are killing ourselves because we want to make profit; because we want to break even; because we want to buy ‘aso ebi’, because “we want to belong”. Gone are the days when Nigerians would make things and make them pure. But now, we have a lot of drinks, a lot of food items that are adulterated. At the end of the day, what we are doing is killing ourselves. So, we must all begin to whistleblow to call all these people out.We must all begin to act like a taskforce to ensure that those people perpetrating such acts are called out, apprehended and made to face the music. We are throwing stones and we are all living in a glass house. These products infiltrate all streets or night markets, weekend markets, or even supermarkets where the rich are buying. So, these products infiltrate all markets. Nobody is safe.”
See something, say something…
Olugbogi said the spate of skin, heart, liver and kidney diseases was alarming, noting that the government alone cannot tame the activities of criminal elements bent on harvesting gains from the problems they create.
“All these diseases are on the rise now. A lot of people are also coming down with Ulcers right now. We are killing ourselves and we are the only ones that can stop it. We have a habit of blaming the government for most things. Government cannot do everything. Government does not know everywhere, every nook and cranny, where people are adding Potash to whatever, or adding dye to their palm oil or adding one substance to increase the volume or quantity of whatever produce they are selling. Government agencies or the government cannot know all that. It is we, who are community members that see this but ignore. What you see and do not say anything about will come back to haunt you at the end of the day. So, we need to blow the whistle when we see people perpetrating this.”
