Some chemicals currently used by Nigerian farmers in the storage, colouring, processing, packaging and preservation of food products are dangerous to human health and should be out-rightly banned, health experts say.
Some of these chemicals include artificial sweeteners such as Aspartame and Acesulfame-K; Aflatoxin, Monosodium Glutamate, ethanol, common dyes, pesticides above 0.01mg/kg, rat poison, Sodium Sulfite, and Sulfur additives.
Others are Sodium Ascorbate, vitamin c (usually derived from corn), Aitric Acid, Sodium Citrate, flavourings (natural and artificial), and Lactic Acid, among others.
Many of the preservative and storage agents are carcinogenic as they cause cancer and death, while others can cause depression or damage to body organs.
“The problems often arise from colouring, storage and processing stages,” said Ife Azih, biochemist and managing director of Destiny Laboratories.
“In the preservation of beans, for instance, some of the farmers use pesticides, instead of pepper. In fish storage, you see some cases where people use rat poisons. There is no guarantee that rats will die immediately they eat the poison. So, the rats transfer germaline to our foods, which is carcinogenic,” Azih explained.
“Another area is processing. Cassava, for instance, is highly carcinogenic if not properly processed. It used to take four days to process garri but these days, it takes food processors one day to do so. This is wrong and must stop to save lives,” he stated.
The European Union (EU) rejected 24 food products from Nigeria in 2016. Groundnuts were rejected because they contained aflatoxin, while palm oil had a colouring agent that was carcinogenic (cancer-causing).
The European Food Safety Authority had likewise rejected beans from Nigeria in 2015 because it contained between 0.03mg per kg and 4.6mg/kg of dichlorvos pesticide, when the acceptable maximum residue limit was 0.01mg/kg. The ban has been extended to 2019, which shows that Nigerian food processors and exporters are yet to change.
Experts are wondering whether food that is not good for Europe or the Americas can be good for consumption by the Nigerian population.
“We do not have regard for what we eat in Nigeria because the government that is supposed to monitor and ensure that standards are met, not just for export but also for local consumption, is lacking in this area,” said Oluremi Keshinro, professor of nutrition and dietetics, Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB).
“Most of the chemicals found in our crops that are rejected by the EU are dangerous to various organs of the body. These chemicals are injurious to the body and can cause terminal diseases. It is time for us to start taking our health seriously because what we eat determines our health status,” Keshinro said.
According to the US the National Cancer Institute, aflatoxins are a family of toxins produced by certain fungi that are found in agricultural crops such as maize (corn), peanuts, cottonseed, and tree nuts.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), 80,000 Nigerians die of cancer every year. Experts believe that over 200,000 Nigerians die annually from food poison.
Some Nigerian abattoirs roast meat with tyres, which medical experts say should be discouraged. Similarly dangerous is the sinking of boreholes close to homes.
Aloysius Maduforo, former vice president, Dietitians Association of Nigeria, blamed the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and other regulatory agencies for failing in this regard.
“In every country there are regulations as to the level of non-food substances that should be in the food we consume. In Nigeria, NAFDAC is responsible for it. The issue is that in Nigeria, we do not check what we consume to know the level of non-food substances in it because NAFDAC is not doing anything in this area,” Maduforo said.
According to Sikiru Ojo, a medical practitioner, the carcinogenic substance found in the palm oil was a chemical that could develop cancer and destroy the cells of the body.
“People can be exposed to aflatoxins by eating contaminated plant products (such as peanuts) or by consuming meat or dairy products from animals that ate contaminated feed. Exposure to aflatoxins is associated with an increased risk of liver cancer,” Ojo stated.
ODINAKA ANUDU, JOSEPHINE OKOJIE & ANTHONIA OBOKOH
