The decision of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) to join forces with the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration (NAFDAC) and the Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON) to tackle the indiscriminate use of harmful substances and toxic additives on fruits and food items, especially grains, is an exhilarating piece of news.
The involvement of the Tunji Bello-led FCCPC will certainly reinvigorate the battle to stop, or at least drastically mitigate, the needless fatalities arising from the iniquitous activities of merchants of death who ripen fruits artificially with harmful substances and preserve grains with dangerous chemicals.
Both regulatory agencies— NAFDAC and SON—as well as some Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in the health and food safety sub-sector have been mounting vigorous campaigns against this unwholesome practice that has greatly imperiled health and food safety because, according to experts, it has contributed to the increasing cases of cancer, kidney and other organ failures, brain damage as well as heart diseases and other grisly health complications among Nigerians.
Experts say the impact may, however, not easily be discernible to Nigerians because these toxins are highly insidious. They take time to manifest in the body. But they remain deadly.
Recent data from NAFDAC revealed that at least 200,000 Nigerians, including pregnant women and children under five, die annually from consuming contaminated food, many of which are attributed to the reckless use of additives to preserve food products and substances to ripen fruits.
The intervention of the FCCPC will thus revivify the campaign and give it the needed impetus. This morass has, indeed, become a bugbear that has dispatched many to their untimely graves, yet these merchants remain inveterate in their ghoulish trade.
The FCCPC, whose core mandate is the protection of consumers’ rights and is working to ensure that they (consumers) have access to safe products and services, has read the Riot Act to those who continue to sell artificially ripened fruits and endanger Nigerians by applying toxic additives to preserve food products. It vowed to deal decisively with them if they refuse to turn a new leaf.
The commission’s Executive Vice‑Chairman. Mr. Olatunji Bello, gave the warning last week in Gombe State during a one-day sensitisation programme on the dangers of forced ripening of fruits, adulterated palm oil, contaminated meat and grains.
According to Bello, who was represented by the Director of Quality Assurance and Development, Dr. Nkechi Mba, such types of fruits pose a threat to public health. He said FCCPC would collaborate with NAFDAC, SON and other regulators to enforce strict compliance with food‑safety standards and prosecute offenders.
The FCCPC boss, known for his unflagging approach, also warned sellers of adulterated palm oil and contaminated meat and grains, appealing to farmers, processors, vendors and traders to shun use of harmful chemicals, maintain hygiene, label products correctly and respect consumer rights.
“Respect consumer rights and refrain from deceptive or unfair business practices. Let it be known that any operator who places profit over public safety will face the full wrath of the law,” he warned.
He said the issues of food quality standards, safety, and fair business practices are more pressing than ever, lamenting that the country continues to witness “alarming trends like the forceful ripening of fruits using harmful chemicals such as calcium carbide, which contains amounts of arsenic and phosphorus, both of which are highly toxic to humans” and the “adulteration of food products with dangerous additives and preservative chemicals such as bromate, Sudan red colorant, sniper, formalin, among others”.
FCCPC’s decision to direct its regulatory binoculars to this turpitude could not have come at a more auspicious time. And Bello, not known for making frivolous statements, is trusted to walk his talk.
This is how it should be because the peril this incubus poses to public health and safety has been seriously concerning. The inconsiderate breed who earn a living by hurting others and are impervious to regulatory warnings must by all means be tamed.
While some of the merchants—farmers and traders—are said to indulge in this obnoxious practice out of ignorance, many of them are actually doing it out of sheer wickedness.
It is saddening that our country is laden with inherently vile, conscienceless and malcontent individuals who relish in plying heinous trades at the expense of public health and safety. Driven by a morbid desire for profits and faster results, they use hazardous substances that pose significant health risks to consumers.
Some of the farmers and merchants preserve grains, especially beans, against weevils with a deadly pesticide dichlorvos, commonly known by its brand name Sniper. They spray the chemical directly on bags of dried beans to extend their shelf life.
This unofficial and unapproved method is sometimes used out of ignorance, as noted earlier, but also because it is a cheap and effective pest control method. Some of them are so ignorant in this indulgence that the quantity of Sniper they often slosh on just a bag of beans, according to experts, is enough to preserve 50 bags!
Regulators and health experts have repeatedly warned against this practice, explaining that washing the beans does not remove the toxins, which have soaked into the food. Consuming beans treated with Sniper, they warn, can cause dizziness, vomiting, breathing difficulties, convulsions, and, in some cases, death.
Another chemical some farmers and merchants use for grain preservation is aluminum phosphide, a highly poisonous pesticide that releases toxic phosphine gas. They place tablets of the chemical inside bags of beans to repel pests.
Whereas health and nutrition experts warn that direct exposure to aluminum phosphide can be fatal as it can cause symptoms such as dizziness, chest tightness and nausea.
Again, a curious video went viral recently where some boys were seen sprinkling generous doses of what looked like cement powder over heaps of yet-to-be-bagged beans, ostensibly to make the product weevil-resistant and market-ready.
And research shows that cement is composed primarily of alkaline and metallic compounds that are highly toxic to humans. It is said to be extremely hazardous to use for food preservation because it can cause chemical burns, organ damage and even death if ingested.
Many of the merchants who trade in chickens and fish also apply formalin to preserve their products. Formalin is a dangerous and highly toxic chemical used to embalm and preserve dead bodies in morgues. The chemical is so dangerous that morgue officials take absolute precautions to prevent people from inhaling it by keeping it away from easy access. Yet, it is used to preserve edibles!
Traders who sell Fufu, a popular delicacy made from cassava paste, also use harmful substances such as jik, powder soaps, portach, among others, to ferment the paste. It takes about four to five days to ferment Fufu going through the normal process. But because the paste is in high demand, some of the traders resort to these artificial substances to make it market-ready in three days or less! Those in the know say the artificially fermented Fufu paste is usually very whitish and does not smell, while the one that goes through the normal process actually smells and is less whitish.
Fruits such as bananas, plantains, mangoes and cherries are also being artificially ripened by many fruit merchants with hazardous chemicals such as calcium carbide and, more recently, paracetamol. Other substances most commonly used as artificial ripeners identified by experts are acetylene, ethephon, ethylene and ethylene glycol.
These chemicals, according to research, release heat when activated, creating conditions that mimic natural ripening. However, this process often introduces toxic substances into fruits, posing health risks to consumers.
The dangers of using artificial methods to ripen fruits, experts warn, include loss of vitamins and micronutrients and consumption of those dangerous chemicals can lead to health issues and death.
Using paracetamol to artificially ripen fruits, according to health and nutrition experts, is hazardous due to chemical alterations and the risks it poses to the food chain. Paracetamol, also known as acetaminophen, is said to contain active compounds such as para-aminophenol derivatives, which exhibit mild oxidative properties.
When exposed to heat or specific environmental conditions, these compounds are said to break down into by-products that can accelerate the ripening process by stimulating the release of ethylene gas, a natural plant hormone responsible for ripening.
But the misuse of paracetamol in ripening alters its chemical composition, leaving harmful residues on fruits. Fruits ripened with paracetamol, experts say, may retain toxic by-products, which, over time, can lead to liver and kidney damage as the body struggles to process these excessive and unnatural chemicals.
As FCCPC gears up to add impetus to the campaign to ameliorate the problem, we urge the commission and other regulators to adopt a carrot-and-stick approach towards tackling the menace. This is achieved through tighter regulatory enforcement, including uncompromising, iron-clad prosecution of culprits, and more vigorous enlightenment, like the one held last week in Gombe, across the country, to educate sellers and farmers about the dangers of their indulgence.
Experts also encourage safer and traditional alternative ripening methods, one of which is natural artificial ripening.
The ripening process is carried out using natural ripening agents and methods without the aid of chemical substances.
An example is ripening by fumes, increasing the ripening rate by placing in a closed container. Ripening is also achieved, to a greater extent, by placing fruits such as apple, avocado, etc., along with unripe bananas.
Experts say the natural ripening process is the best. This simple method usually practised in some households is done by keeping the unripe fruit inside an airtight drum containing rice or wheat. The fruits stored in such a way is said to ripen quickly because of the accumulation of ethylene gas and the self-heating nature of grains.
It is hoped that the combined regulatory force of FCCPC, NAFDAC and SON as well as allied regulators will deal a lethal blow on the incubus and at least mitigate avoidable fatalities arising therefrom.
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