‘Nigeria’s food safety issue a national security crisis’ – FG, stakeholders raise alarm
Federal Government agencies including the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Agriculture, Nigerian Council of Food Science and Technology, Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, and food experts have raised the alarm over the quality of food consumed in Nigeria.
Stakeholders at a national awareness campaign in Abuja on Thursday said the food safety crisis calls for urgent action by the government and citizens.
In her speech, the director of nutrition at the Department of the Federal Ministry of Health, Ladidi Bako-Aiyegbusi, said food safety is a public health concern with serious economic, social, and developmental implications.
Bako-Aiyegbusi, in her speech delivered by Husana Aminu, a nutrition officer at the ministry, stressed that food safety has contributed to the rise in the death rate of foodborne illnesses in Nigeria.
“Food safety is not just a health issue; it is a national security issue.
“I call on you today to see food safety as an investment; every naira spent on prevention saves many more in treatment, lost productivity, and long-term health costs,” she stated.
On her part, the event organiser, Ekemini Francis, the Chief Executive Officer of MyGrandMa Kitchen, said that Nigerians should embrace natural food devoid of chemicals.
Also, in her remarks, the registrar of NiCFoST, Veronica Ezeh, said the campaign is a wake-up call for Nigerians to avoid unprofessional food handling and practices across the country.
Represented by Bello Kabiru, head of Inspection and Monitoring at NiCFoST, Ezeh stressed that citizens must avoid unhealthy food practices such as soaking cassava (for fufu preparation) in detergent solution to soften it, washing fruits and vegetables with detergent solutions to enhance appearance and removing animal skin with burning tyres.
Others unhealthy practices are forced ripening of fruits using calcium carbide, using sniper (dinlorvos) to preserve beans and cereals, cooking meat with paracetamol as a tenderiser, mixing honey with syrups, preserving cow skin (kpomo) and fish with formalin and adding harmful dyes such as Sudan IV to palm oil and red pepper to enhance colour, among others.
Ezeh said that offenders of such unhealthy food practices are liable to one or two years’ imprisonment.
“The public is reminded that such acts are punishable under the Criminal Code Act, with offenders liable to one to two years’ imprisonment.”
Dr. Aisha Isa, deputy director at the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Safety, and Victoria Oye, assistant chief scientific officer in the Quality Assurance Department at FCCPC, re-echoed the dangers of unhealthy food practices, noting mineral deficiencies are linked to the prevalence of terminal diseases such as cancer.
Aisha Isa said the government has begun a campaign to encourage organic farming across the country.
“We are starting campaigns on food safety. We are encouraging organic food. food from the farm to the table,” she said.
DAILY POST reports that in May 2025, the Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Geoffrey Nnaji, decried the high rate of foodborne illnesses, noting that 200,000 Nigerians die annually from food-related diseases.
‘Nigeria’s food safety issue a national security crisis’ – FG, stakeholders raise alarm
