By Olakunle Olafioye
Nigeria has several unresolved food related deaths hanging ignominiously around its neck. Yet signs of possible future recurrence remain palpable on the horizon. On May 3, 2025 a family of five died from suspected food poisoning at Ogidi in Idemili North Local Government Area of Anambra State, with their mother hospitalized. The unfortunate incident happened after the family had their meal reportedly prepared by the mother. Reports claimed that the five siblings exhibited symptoms of food related issues including stomach aches, vomiting and other signs of abdominal troubles and were rushed to the hospitals along with their mother who came out as the only survivor.
In August 2024, the Sokoto State Government undertook the probe of another case of suspected food poisoning which claimed the lives of seven members of the same family. The deceased allegedly died after consuming Dambu and Lalo, a local dish made from cassava and vegetables. The family, it was gathered, began falling sick a few hours after eating, leading to their deaths.
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In October, 2024, residents of Gaga Street, Oke-Aro, Akure, Ondo State were thrown into mourning following the deaths of five family members after a pap meal. The victims, who were four siblings and their grandmother died within the space of 24 hours reportedly battled with severe stomach upset and vomiting before giving up the ghost.
While the families of the deceased are still smarting from the untimely demise of their loved ones, a troubling report of what probably could have turned out to be another food poisoning tragedy emerged last week with the arrest of a yam flour trader by the Lagos State Environmental Sanitation Corps in Lagos. The suspect was arrested following a formal complaint from the Elubo Sellers Association in Ajelogo, Maidan area of Lagos, who raised concerns about suspected adulterated products infiltrating the market.
The Corps Marshal of LAGESC, Major Olaniyi Olatunbosun Cole (rtd), said the suspect was found with substances suspected to be adulterated yam flour mixed with yam peels. The LAGESC boss said the suspect was picked after allegedly selling adulterated yam flour to unsuspecting consumers at the Mile 12 market, a practice he noted posed serious health risks to the public and could contribute to food-related illnesses in the state.
For years the issue of food safety has been a major public health concern in Nigeria with experts identifying numerous challenges impacting the entire food supply chain from farm to home. Notable among these challenges according to them include lack of adequate safety regulations and enforcement, poor food handling practice, lack of awareness and issues related to food production and distribution.
A 2024 report by the World Health Organisation (WHO), explains that approximately 600 million people, nearly one in 10 globally, fall ill each year after consuming contaminated food, resulting in 420,000 deaths. Earlier in 2021 a publication of the National Institute of Health entitled “Improving Food Safety Culture in Nigeria” claims that over 200,000 people die annually from food poisoning in the country.
The severity and the urgent need to find a lasting solution to this challenge reverberated recently when the government launched a manual to improve food hygiene standards in the country. The Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Council of Food Science and Technology, Veronica Eze, during the launch of the manual, pointed out that life-threatening conditions such as kidney failure, liver cirrhosis, cancers, and diabetes are increasingly linked to lifestyle choices and the consumption of unsafe food. Although Eze noted that the exact figures on these illnesses and related deaths could not be immediately ascertained, she however pointed out that the connection between unsafe food practices and the rise of kidney and liver diseases in Nigeria was evident.
Also at the event, the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Muhammad Pate, who was represented at the occasion, noted that the implications of unsafe food practices transcended individual cases of illness. “Unsafe food undermines not only public health but also economic progress. Unsafe food impacts families, communities, and the nation’s economic development.
“Recent studies by the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition have revealed that approximately 20 percent of hospital admissions in urban areas can be attributed to food-borne diseases,” he said, adding that, “This figure exemplifies our fight against food-borne illness and the importance of food scientists, innovations, and researchers to support this public health priority,” he stated.
A food scientist, Mrs. Damola Ashaye said lack of adequate government regulations and control in food production and marketing continue to pose a major threat to the chemical and microbiological safety of food in the country. Ashaye noted that more than 50 percent of the population of people in urban settings are vulnerable to the dangers of unhealthy food practices since they mostly depend on neighbourhood food vendors.
Continuing, she said, “Findings in recent times have shown a considerable link between health issues arising from food with contaminated food from public food vendors. This is traceable to poor government regulation in the sector. There is a need for the government to address this lapse to douse the concern about the chemical and microbiological safety of the food we consume in this country.
She noted that common pathogens associated with contaminated food include E. coli and Salmonella, which has the potential to cause food-borne illnesses such as gastroenteritis, haemorrhagic colitis or bloody diarrhoea and life-threatening conditions such as haemolytic uremic syndrome. She identified heavy metal contamination as another risk associated with unsafe food.
While urging Nigerians to be watchful when eating at public food selling outlets, she identified the use of Paracetamol to soften meat; the use of detergents for cassava fermentation, and adulteration of red oil and pepper with industrial dyes like Sudan IV, as some of the unsafe practices adopted by some food vendors in processing their food.
The federal government recently put the economic burden associated with food-borne illnesses around $3.6 billion annually, an additional reason why many public health experts are calling on the government to rise to the challenge of putting adequate mechanisms in place to check unethical and unsafe food practices in the country. They called for the development and the enforcement of food safety regulations, particularly, Sections 243 and 244 of Nigeria’s Criminal Code, which makes the sale or distribution of toxic or harmful food a punishable offence in the country, in order to stem the tide of unsafe food practices in the country.
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