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| Some of the adulterated foodstuff and household items that were seized by NAFDAC |
Thirty-three-year-old Mr. Chukwuma Uzor
(not real name) was recently arrested while going about his “normal
business” in his one-room apartment in Lagos Island.
Uzor was reportedly caught canning what
seemed like tomato paste into branded tomato cans. In his custody also
were more than four cartoons of the fake canned tomatoes, which he was
preparing to distribute to his customers.
Though the food labels showed that the
canned tomatoes were from China, they were being manufactured under the
superintendence of Uzor in his ‘one-bedroom factory’ in Nigeria.
Other items found in his unsanitary
residence during the arrest included four drums containing formulated
mixture of custard mixture that he was repackaging into a branded bottle
and some other labeling and production equipment.
However, that is not the end of the
story. The young man also has a....
supermarket in the Oke Arin area of
Lagos where he uses as an outlet for the marketing of the fake items. In
fact, it is from Oke Arin that Nwabueze’s fake products find their way
to the popular Idumota market in Lagos.
Officials of the National Agency for Food
Drug Administration and Control also this November arrested another
suspect for producing yoghurt in her residence. She was found with
cartoons of adulterated milk, which she repacked into a popular yoghurt
brand.
Hitherto, NAFDAC officials had seized a
truckload of adulterated food products in Idumota. They had also seized
such items as fake baked beans, canned sardines, tomato ketchups and
other processed foods.
Other products confiscated include fake and substandard cosmetics and detergents used in household cleaning.
It is not surprising therefore why this
trend has become a source of worry for many stakeholders, including
operators of supermarkets, who source and stock these food and cosmetic
products.
Besides, stakeholders in the food
industry have raised the alarm over increased production and circulation
of adulterated items, attributing the influx of such food products into
the country to the festive periods.
Agreed many are familiar with the faking
of medicines and some other pharmaceutical products in Nigeria, not many
know that there are fake or adulterated food items and consumable
foodstuff.
According to the owner of a supermarket
at Opebi, Lagos, Mr. James Okpara, it is becoming increasingly difficult
for them to differentiate counterfeit food items from the original ones
due to the “brilliant tactics” of counterfeiters.
He said, “It is a big problem for
supermarket operators because many of the canned and bottled food items
in the market have been adulterated due to the festive period in
December. We usually cannot spot the fake ones because we cannot open
them to check the quality before we stock.
“Also, they come in the package of the
popular brands from our suppliers, so we have no reason to distrust them
until customers complain about them. In fact, the package of an
adulterated butter looks better than that of the original. When they
bring those adulterated products, they are usually cheaper than the
price of the original one. That is how we know the fake ones for now.”
According to the Head of Investigation
and Enforcement Directorate, Kingsley Ejiofor, counterfeiters have now
shifted attention from drugs to food items, which they view as more
profitable.
He noted that they had changed tactics,
as investigations by the agency revealed that they were targeting open
markets, supermarkets and food restaurants to circulate their
adulterated food items.
He, therefore, urged Nigerians to be on
guard in the next few months to ensure that they do not fall victim to
the counterfeiters’ tactics. Urging Nigerians to be on guard by sourcing
their food items from authorised sources, Ejiofor promised that the
agency would continue to check the influx of adulterated food items in
the country.
He said, “We must not be deceived by
unscrupulous businessmen capitalising on old habit that people buy more
food items. We must be on the lookout because the fake products are
packaged in original containers of other products.
“The adulterators’ of the items usually
claim that their products are from China, Italy, London or Paris. We are
not saying you should not patronise authentic products but check the
source. Do not just buy from any open market. All hands must be on deck
to check the circulation of adulterated products into the food chain in
the country.”
Medical experts have also warned
Nigerians not to fall victims to the antics of consuming counterfeit
food products. They noted that the call was not to stir unnecessary
suspicion about products, but to raise consumers’ awareness index on the
fact that many food items and consumables in the country have caught
the attention of counterfeiters.
Consultant physician, Dr. Tayo Ajayi, who
called for caution, urged regulatory agencies, stakeholders and
Nigerians at large to take the menace of fake and adulterated food and
cosmetic items seriously.
He said there was the need for regulatory
agencies, such as NAFDAC and the Standards Organisation of Nigeria, to
step up their surveillance in order not to allow the business to thrive
in the country.
He said, “Regulatory agencies must be on
guard this period. They must continue to raid open markets as much as
possible. They must check the supply chain because there will always be
demand for food. They should educate wholesalers and importers of the
food items on the danger of selling adulterated products and how to spot
the fake food items.”
For Afolabi, the consumption of
adulterated food items, such as milk, vegetable oil and other foodstuff,
can result in life threatening diseases, such as kidney failure, liver
damage, heart diseases and food poisoning and gastrointestinal diseases.
Ajayi said, “Scientific analyses have
shown that counterfeiters substitute some proteins in milk and food
items with chalk, salt and other substances depending on the colour of
the food item.
“These substances can harm the body.
Children who take substandard and adulterated infant formulas can die of
diarrhoea and some other gastro-intestinal diseases. You can develop
stomach ulcer when you eat food cooked with adulterated items.
“For instance, if you cook or eat food
prepared with palm oil laced with chemicals over time, you can be prone
to cardiovascular diseases. It is also more difficult to diagnose, that
is why it is as deadly as taking fake drugs.
“Read the labels carefully. Any spelling error should give the product away as fake. Don’t take it or don’t buy it.”
-Punch
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