The revelation at the gender and inclusion summit 2023 (GS-23), held recently in Abuja, that over 200,000 Nigerians die annually from food poisoning is troubling, stakeholders say.
Speaking at the event convened by the Policy Innovation Centre, PIC, of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group in Abuja, Apostle Michael Orokpo’s wife and social media influencer, Osenega Orokpo, shocked many when she revealed that there is high rate of food poisoning in Nigeria and other African countries due to unhealthy.
She attributed this to unsafe food preparation and preservation caused by poor processing and absence of robust and monitoring food systems in the country.
Stakeholders at the summit said many Nigerians were dying owing to unsafe and unscrupulous practices, such as the use of dangerous chemicals like sniper for storage and preservation of agricultural commodities, including grains (maize, beans).
They also identified other harmful practices to include the use of carbide to ripen fruits, tendering of meat with paracetamol by food vendors, which can result in liver or kidney failure, using formaldehyde to preserve fish, injecting poultry with hormones to conceal disease, harmful food colouring, among others.
Orokpo, who spoke on the topic: “Pathway out of Poverty: Closing Systematic Gender Gaps in Agricultural Productivity, Value Chain Pathways, and Entrepreneurial Opportunities,” stressed the need for resilient food systems to address the challenge of food poisoning in the country.
She added that Nigeria could address the challenge of food poisoning through such proactive interventions like advocacy.
She suggested that every food supply chain should have safety cautions in place to guard against food poisoning along the distribution channel, even as she underscored the need for women inclusion in the food value chain, as according to her, about 47 percent of farmers in the food chain were women.
“It is very important to establish food procedure because most of the people who provide food are smallholder farmers.
“That is where training comes in. Training model should be handed down all the way from the farm to the factory,” she said.
Earlier, the chairman of the NESG Policy and Innovation Centre, Mr. Udeme Ufot, said the summit was conceptualised as a platform for dialogue where critical stakeholders from diverse sectors would reflect on new evidence, and contextually relevant solutions to disparities in inclusivity in Nigeria.
He noted that by joining forces and leveraging the collective power of government, development partners, civil society, academia, and the private sector, the summit would foster collective commitment and focused action towards building a gender inclusive society.
Similarly, a director with the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, Eva Edwards, said that food-borne diseases disproportionately affect the most vulnerable of the society- the infants, young children, pregnant women, the elderly and the immune-compromised people.
She disclosed that many farmers and business owners used agrochemicals such as snipers for storage and preservation of agricultural commodities such as grains, stressing that such practice presented negative health outcomes.
However, to tackle the menace, the NAFDAC Director General, DG, Prof Moji Adeyeye, recently launched a campaign against drug hawking and ripening of fruits in Lagos.
He disclosed that consumption of fruits that were ripened with harmful chemicals like calcium carbide may cause cancer, heart, kidney, and liver failures.
Represented by the director of chemical evaluation and research, Dr Leonard Omokpariola, the DG said the agency had commissioned a scientific study on the best approach to mitigating the health hazards posed by ripening fruits with carbide.
Dr Uche Okenyi of the Hova’s Place Hospital, Festac, examining the common causes of food poisoning, said injecting certain bacteria viruses and toxins in the process of preparing and preserving foods is a common cause of diarrhoea and vomiting otherwise called poison.
“Contaminated food and water are common causes but at times, no specific cause is found,” he said.
He stated that the 200,000 figure could be an understatement, as he noted that over a million Nigerians are affected by food poisoning annually.
This he said, “could be attributed to both personal habit of individuals and the environmental management by the concerned authorities.
“Individuals who are careless about personal hygiene often fall victim. Poor waste disposal/management by individuals, corporate entities and the relevant government agencies is also a factor.
“Things like unhygienically prepared food or drinks, open defecation, defective soak-away/drainage channels, and poor management of dumpsites, are also factors.
“Food poisoning in most cases is mild and self limiting requiring proper hydration. In some cases, antiemetics and anti-diarrhoeals may be necessary, and at times, antibiotics.”
He also noted that the high number of deaths resulting from food poisoning is as a result of ignorance or poor awareness campaigns.
He said: “The high mortality rate is attributable to lack of education and awareness on the prompt and proper thing to do in such cases at an individual level, and secondly, to all equipped health facilities that are unable to manage severe cases.”
He stressed that as preventive measures, the government and even corporate organisations and well-to-do individuals should all engage in proper education and awareness creation and sensitisation on the poor personal hygiene and poor environmental management.
“The government has a big role to play in this. And finally, there should be more investment in healthcare, which will equip our health facilities to manage any degree of food poisoning,” he said
