Begins crackdown on food adulteration amid 200,000 yearly deaths

About 200,000 people in Nigeria, mostly children, lose their lives yearly from food-related diseases. In addition, the country loses about $3.6 billion yearly to food-borne illness.

Following the alarming statistics, the Federal Government has announced a renewed crackdown on food adulteration and unsafe food practices in the country.
To address the food-borne disease menace, the Federal Government, in collaboration with the Nigerian Council for Food Science and Technology (NiCFoST), launched Nigeria’s first Food Safety Operational Manual for Food Business Operators, which is a national blueprint to strengthen the food system, improve lives, reduce illness, and restore public trust in the safety of what Nigerians eat.

Speaking at the document’s launch yesterday in Abuja, Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Uche Nnaji, who described unsafe food as a “silent epidemic”, emphasised the need to address the urgent challenges confronting food safety across Nigeria, especially in the informal sector.

He stated that World Health Organisation (WHO) data shows that over 600 million people globally fall ill each year due to food contamination, with Africa bearing the highest per capita burden. 

Nnaji decried the unethical use of Paracetamol to tenderise meat, the use of detergents for cassava fermentation, and adulteration of red oil and pepper with industrial dyes like Sudan IV, adding that the country was witnessing a cold war against public health.

The minister observed that the consequences of such practices were devastating, including increased incidences of kidney failure, liver cirrhosis, cancers and other debilitating non-communicable diseases. 

He said: “These are not cultural missteps; they are criminal acts. As explicitly provided under Sections 243 and 244 of Nigeria’s Criminal Code, the sale or distribution of toxic or harmful food is a punishable offence.

“In the first quarter of 2025 alone, cholera claimed 378 lives, while Lassa fever infected over 3,500 Nigerians, with many cases linked to food contamination from rodents and poor hygiene. This must stop. This manual is a significant step towards ensuring it does. I reaffirm our resolve that food safety must be a right, not a privilege, a national priority, not an afterthought and a shared responsibility, not an isolated burden.”

Calling on local council authorities to employ licensed food science professionals, he urged development partners and donors to support innovation and grassroots food safety interventions.

The minister commended the NiCFoST Registrar, Mrs Veronica Ezeh, for the foresight, rigour and commitment demonstrated in producing the long-overdue manual, stressing that the manual would go a long way in addressing the challenges confronting food safety in Nigeria.

Also, Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof Muhammad Pate, described food as the cornerstone of the country’s health and prosperity.
 
Ezeh also addressed the gathering, warning food vendors and operators in the food sector to cease practices that endanger lives. Criticising local council authorities for failing to hire qualified food safety professionals despite constitutional provisions that support such appointments, she urged all 774 local councils’ chairmen to recruit licensed food safety professionals immediately.

Over 150 participants, including food safety desk officers from various agencies and food business operators, were trained to utilise the newly launched manual to enhance food safety practices nationwide.