Statistics of persons who died from suspected food poisoning in various states across the country in recent weeks are alarming enough to give Nigerians serious concern. At the last count from media sources, the casualty figures across the country have so far hit 45 within two weeks. Several others are also lying critically ill in hospitals. Because we are a country where there is little for human life, no one has bothered to take responsibility. Worse still, no categorical statement on how to quickly halt or manage the phenomenon has come from any of the government agencies that have statutory mandates to have prevented the tragedy.
Media reports indicate fatal food poisoning in Sokoto, Kano, Kogi, Anambra, Nasarawa and Kwara states. Last week, in Eruda community of Ilorin West Local Government Area of Kwara State, a 70-year-old woman, her 34-year-old son and two grandchildren died shortly after eating a yam flour meal (amala).
Earlier this month, four children and their mother were confirmed to have died of suspected poisoning at Abubor Nnewichi community, in Nnewi North LGA of Anambra State. In Sokoto state, a family of seven reportedly died after eating a cassava meal at Runjin Barmo village of Kajiji District of Shagari LGA. In the same Shagari LGA of Sokoto State, five out of seven members of a family died after allegedly consuming a soup prepared with a local fertilizer, which the victims mistook for the popular seasoning called ‘Ajino Moto.’
It was a similar story in Nasarawa state where six people from the same family died after taking a meal in Gidinye community of Obi LGA. In Kano state, a mother and her five kids died from abdominal complications after eating a local delicacy called Dawake in Hausa. This happened in Karkari village, Gwarzo LGA of the state. The Dawake meal was, as alleged, prepared from expired cassava flour. There could be several other cases of food poisoning that have not been reported; suggesting that statistics of the fatality could be higher than reported in the media.
There are public insinuations that majority of the deaths that resulted from suspected food poisoning could have been caused by possible chemical contaminations. There’s a variety of cassava that contains high levels of cyanogenic glycosides that releases cyanide. Experts say there’s a serious risk in consuming this variety of cassava. Over-fermented cassava would make it poisonous, and therefore, dangerous for human consumption. Poor hygienic conditions under which most consumables including cassava flour, yam flour, plantain flour, and melon are being processed in many local Nigerian communities is also a serious factor in food poisoning. For instance, when smithereens of cassava, yam, and plantain are sprayed for drying along road-shoulders that are close to bushes, rodents whose urine is said to be highly poisonous come to feed on the sprayed smithereens, and in the process, urinate on them. The consumption of such poisoned food substances could cause food poisoning.
The indiscriminate use of preservatives by hoarders of food items to preserve their supplies could also lead to food poisoning. Similarly, fatalities from food poisoning are also attributed to importation of substandard and expired food items. Nigerian marketplaces are so unmonitored that anything substandard or expired could be brought in, displayed and traded without relevant agencies confiscating them. In all this, the lack of proactivity from the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) provided the background for food poisoning factors to thrive. NAFDAC is a parastatal of the Federal Ministry of Health, with the mandate “to regulate and control the manufacture, importation, exportation, distribution, advertisement, sale and use of food, drugs, cosmetics, medical devices, packaged water, chemicals and detergents (known as regulated products.”
The collapse of the services of public health workers at the community, LG, and state levels is a critical factor that has impacted negatively on food processing, hygiene, and consumption at family and public levels. In the good old days, public health workers (traditionally called Dubagari in Hausa) visit homes to check the palatability of raw foods, hygiene of cooking environment or premises where food is processed to ensure that every food consumed is safe for consumption.
Worrisome these days is how public health workers, veterinary inspection officers and other health-care personnel in relevant health-based government agencies have abandoned the practice of inspecting and certifying food commodities before they are allowed to be accessed for consumption by the public. No one cares to enforce the withdrawal of unsafe food items (substandard and expired products) from markets and shops even when consumers complain of their circulation and display in the markets.
While we encourage states and LG authorities to improve upon their efforts at enforcing existing food safety regulations and hygiene through functional inspection roles, we urge NAFDAC to increase its public enlightenment activities so that farmers, agro-chemical companies and retailers, food commodities’ dealers, food vendors, and consumers would all be properly educated on best practices as they relate to basic standards on food safety and hygiene. May Allah guide all stakeholders in this matter to that which is right, amin.
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