Insecticides, detergents and other harmful chemicals used to preserve food items might land you in hospital.

This was the message from Itua Esther, the Edo State coordinator of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), while addressing an awareness campaign for traders at various markets across the state.

She said the campaign had become necessary because of increasing cases of kidney and liver problems, as well as diabetes, among other illnesses, occasioned by traders’ harmful practices.

She warned that the chemicals were poisonous and harmful to people’s bodies and they were responsible for escalating illnesses. “These practices are bad and should be stopped,” she said, urging members of the public to report such harmful practices to NAFDAC for appropriate action and to save lives.

NAFDAC said traders had been seen using Sniper to preserve grains and beans against weevils and formalin to preserve meat carcasses from getting spoilt so that they were still able to sell the meat the next day.

But the organisation warned meat and fish sellers against the use of formalin to preserve the products, adding that the Sniper insecticide was also dangerous.

Traders at the Maiduguri Monday Market abattoir told RNI reporter Hadiza Dawood that they did not sell any meat unless it had been certified harmless.

Hamai Haliyu, a meat seller, said they preserved their meat and kept it clean.

He said that since the outbreak of cholera in Maiduguri, they were taking every precaution to keep the meat clean by washing it regularly.

“We wash it well every day and keep it away from flies. Experts told us that everything should be kept clean. They said uncleanliness is one of the causes of the cholera outbreak,” he said.

Haliyu said that he did not use any unprescribed chemicals to preserve meat. “We don’t sell meat to anyone without it first being certified by a medic and leaders in the abattoir.

He said that authorities at the abattoir buried bad meat and did not allow meat traders to sell it to the public. “It doesn’t even reach the market let alone being sold to anyone,” he said.

Meat sellers, Malam Salisu and Yunusa Aliyu, said that they did not use harmful substances to preserve meat but they said they did not know for certain that other meat sellers used harmful chemicals or not.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said that unsafe food had been a human health problem since history was first recorded, and many food safety problems encountered today were not new. Although governments all over the world were doing their best to improve the safety of the food supply, the occurrence of foodborne disease remained a significant health issue in both developed and developing countries.

It said the five keys to safer food were:

• Keep clean;
• Separate raw and cooked;
• Cook thoroughly;
• Keep food at safe temperatures; and
• Use safe water and raw materials.

It said people should wash their hands before handling food and often during food preparation; wash hands after going to the toilet; wash and sanitise all surfaces and equipment used for food preparation; and protect kitchen areas and food from insects, pests and other animals.