Jame Salihu
The Nigerian Council for Food Science and Technology (NiCFoST) has raised concerns over the prevalence of unsafe food handling and processing practices across the country, calling for stronger grassroots monitoring to protect consumers from contaminated and adulterated food products.
The Council identified the inadequate deployment of qualified food science and technology professionals in markets and food-processing centres as a major gap in Nigeria’s food safety system, warning that the situation allows harmful practices to persist without adequate scientific inspection.
Its Director-General, Veronica Ezeh, made the call in Abuja during a press briefing organised to commemorate the 2026 World Science Day for Peace and Development.
Ezeh said deploying trained professionals at the grassroots would strengthen food surveillance, enable the identification of adulterated products and ensure that traders and processors comply with established safety standards.
Demonstrating how some traders adulterate palm oil with prohibited Sudan dyes to enhance its colour and appearance, she warned that such practices expose unsuspecting consumers to potentially harmful substances.
She also expressed concern over the unhygienic display of garri in open containers, noting that exposure to dust, insects, rodents and other contaminants could facilitate the transmission of dangerous diseases, including Lassa fever and cholera.
The NiCFoST Director-General advocated simple and affordable hygienic packaging methods to protect food products from contamination, urging traders to adopt better storage and display practices.
She further stressed that food safety inspections must extend beyond finished products to include the sources of raw materials and ingredients used by processors, warning that businesses could unknowingly distribute adulterated products when they obtain supplies from unreliable sources.
Speaking at the event, the Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Dr Kingsley Udeh, SAN, disclosed that Nigeria has approximately 3,000 trained food science and technology professionals produced by about 70 tertiary institutions, but their expertise remains largely underutilised, particularly in the public service.
He said the Ministry was facilitating engagements towards establishing a professional career structure for food science and technology practitioners in the public service to ensure their effective deployment in safeguarding the nation’s food supply.
Udeh called on federal, state and local governments to engage qualified professionals in markets, food-processing centres and other points along the food value chain to detect adulteration, monitor processing practices and strengthen quality assurance.
He urged food regulatory institutions and businesses to employ licensed professionals in food production management, quality control, production supervision, raw material handling and finished-product storage.
The Minister expressed concern over dangerous practices, including artificial ripening of fruits with calcium carbide, treatment of beans and grains with prohibited chemicals, use of paracetamol to soften meat, application of detergents during cassava processing and adulteration of palm oil with prohibited colourants.
“These practices certainly endanger lives, undermine consumer confidence and compromise food security. Food must sustain life, not endanger it,” he said.
Citing figures attributed to the World Health Organisation, Udeh said approximately 866 million people worldwide were affected by foodborne illnesses, resulting in an estimated 1.552 million deaths, including 143,000 children under five.
He called on state and local governments to strengthen food inspection and enforcement in markets, restaurants, abattoirs and other food outlets, while adopting NiCFoST’s food safety operational manual for market and street food vendors.
On indigenous technology, the Minister said the Ministry was promoting locally developed solutions for food processing, preservation, storage and packaging, including improved fish-smoking kilns, solar dryers, grain storage systems, cassava-processing equipment and palm fruit-grinding machines.
He added that shared community processing facilities were being encouraged to enable small-scale operators to access appropriate equipment without bearing the full cost individually.
Udeh also disclosed plans to convene a national high-level roundtable involving relevant government institutions and stakeholders across the food value chain to strengthen coordination and improve the implementation of food safety policies.
He clarified that while NiCFoST regulates professional practice in food science and technology, the investigation and prosecution of offenders remain the responsibility of relevant law enforcement and prosecutorial agencies.
Both the Minister and the Council urged Nigerians to report suspected cases of food adulteration and unsafe food handling, stressing that protecting public health requires collective responsibility.Editorial note: This version leads with NiCFoST’s concerns and grassroots monitoring demand, while the Minister’s intervention provides supporting government policy context.
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