News Investigators/ Some Physicians have tasked the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) on strict surveillance system on food additives and other consumables to guarantee their being safe for consumption.
They made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday.
Speaking, a Family Physician, Dr Gerald Chinasa, stated that it was the sole responsibility of NAFDAC to regulate, monitor and certify foods and its additives that would not be harmful to health before they are brought to the market.
He decried that NAFDAC had not done enough in this direction and urged the Agency to rise to its responsibility to save innocent citizens who ignorantly buy and consume these products.
He underscored the need for the agency to go the extra mile to effectively carry out laboratory test on food additives and other consumables before they could be consumed by Nigerians.
The physician suggested establishment of another body that could be assisting NAFDAC particularly in the area of monitoring foods, saying the body could be moving round to monitor and ensure full compliance.
“The regulatory body should rise to its responsibility and go the extra in checking the quality of food/additives that are sold in the market particularly now the economy is hard.
“This is so that people do not settle for anything without considering whether it harms them or not.
“They need to step up efforts in going around the markets, shops and manufacturing factories where these foods are produced and sold, to ensure they are safe and will not cause any long-term or short-term damage to body.
“This is because lately in Nigeria, we are beginning to see outbreak of some of diseases that used to be rare in the past, like kidney pathology, hypertension and diabetes.
“The surge of these diseases is traceable to what people consume.
“So, there should be a real surveillance system that would allow the agency to effectively monitor to ensure safety of what people are consuming,” he said.
A Nutritionist with the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Fatima Akinyelure, said that the additives mostly used by people were often without the approval and certification of the regulatory body.
Mrs Akinyelure decried the rate at which people add additives to foods, saying that the act if left unchecked could result to more life threatening health conditions.
She warned that adding additives/chemicals to food and fruit to make it bigger or change its appearance and colour could cause damage to the body cells.
According to her, the most trending ones include the use of paracetamol in cooking meat to make it bigger and soft, regretting that people also add additives to fufu, palmoil and fruits like banana and plantain.
She added that calcium carbide was another chemical offen used by sellers to quicken the ripening of vegetables and fruits like bananas and plantain.
The nutritionist said there were inherent dangers of artificial ripening of fruits and vegetables, saying that the chemicals used to ripen fruits artificially were toxic and could also affect people’s neurological system.
“According to studies, calcium carbide, which some people use to quicken ripening of fruits like banana and plantain can affect the neurological system by inducing prolonged hypoxia – a condition of having low oxygen levels in the tissues.
“In addition, industrial grade calcium carbide is often found contaminated with trace amounts of arsenic and phosphorus, which are toxic chemicals.
“However, health benefits of fruits depend on how they are ripened.
“The best course will be to allow them to ripe on the plant itself or harvest/buy them unripe and allow them to naturally ripen without any additive,” she said.
A General Physician, Dr Adeogun Umorh, noted that not all additives were harmful to human health and warned that moderation and precautions should be observed when using them.
Citing the World Health Organisation (WHO), Umorh said food additives were substances added to a food to maintain the safety, freshness, taste, texture, or appearance of the food.
He listed some of the additives to include antioxidants, artificial sweeteners, flavors, flavor enhancers, bulking agents, colour additive, emulsifiers, preservatives, mineral salts, propellants, raising agents and thickners.
“Some of these substances or additives have been associated with adverse health effects and should be avoided, while others with minimal risk are safe and can be consumed.
“Unfortunately, people have abused the usage of additives, having designed lots of additives/chemicals they add to food to get the desired size, taste, appearance, texture or colour.
“However, every uncertified food additive is poison,” he warned.
NAN
