Sunday, November 30, 2014

MUST READ: [YOUR HEALTH] Be careful, adulterated foodstuff is on the increase

Some of the adulterated foodstuff and household items that were seized by NAFDAC
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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