Lagos residents raise concerns over unsafe fufu preparation, preservation

Some residents in Lagos State have raised concerns over suspected unsafe preparation and preservation of fufu.

They expressed their concerns in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria on Sunday in Lagos.

NAN reports that fufu, also known as akpu or santana in Nigeria, is a local staple made from fermented cassava.

The cassava is peeled, soaked for days to ferment and remove toxins, blended, strained and cooked into a smooth dough.

Ready-to-eat portions of fufu previously sold at N1,000 for 13 balls are now sold at the same price in smaller portions.

Some consumers have gradually stopped eating fufu made in Lagos over concerns about its preparation, preservation and possible food poisoning.

A resident of Ajegunle, Miss Omena Udonwa, said her past experiences with fufu preparation had led her family to start making it themselves.

Udonwa said she was dissatisfied with the way some producers processed the staple.

“I saw a piece of rubber inside a fufu I bought recently and, if not for my vigilance, I would have consumed it.

“I once saw a producer who used detergent to wash the cassava and saw nothing wrong with what they did,” Udonwa said.

A Costain resident, Mr Adedayo Falade, said he loved fufu because it gave him the energy to engage in hard labour without getting tired easily.

Falade, however, expressed displeasure over the preparation methods used by some producers, saying they resulted in foul-smelling and sticky fufu.

“I rarely eat fufu now. Some fufu stays for days and even weeks on sale without patronage due to poor preparation methods.

“In spite of my love for fufu, I would rather source it from outside Lagos because I no longer trust how it is prepared here.

“Some processors in Lagos are just greedy for extra gain, so they can boycott good practices just to sell the product,” Falade said.

Another resident of Agege, Mrs Anuoluwapo Ayeni, said some fufu processors could be trusted, but consumers needed to be careful about where they bought the staple.

“Fufu is a good meal, but I urge Lagosians to be careful where they purchase their fufu.

• Ekiti pledges readiness for disease outbreaks
• Burna Boy takes delivery of Bugatti Chiron hypercar
• NDLEA intercepts N3.4bn drugs, arrests fake cop, mechanic

“It will be beneficial to know how the fufu you consume is sourced and prepared to avoid health challenges in the future.

“We still have good processors, but they are few. Everyone should be sure of what they consume,” Ayeni said.

However, a fufu processor at Santana International, White Sand, Oyingbo, Mrs Hope Aniekan, described the stages involved in processing and storing the staple.

Aniekan said the cassava was first peeled and thoroughly washed with clean water before being soaked for about two days.

She explained that the soaked cassava was taken to a mill for grinding and subsequently filtered to remove unwanted particles.

According to her, after 30 minutes, the resulting paste was placed in a sack, covered with plantain leaves and weighted with a heavy stone.

“We adopt the traditional procedures in processing our fufu here. Our fufu can be trusted and our customers can attest to it.

“We only make use of salt in our fufu as a means of preservation to prevent the infestation of maggots.

“No other harmful additives are in our fufu, but I can only speak for myself. I don’t know how others process theirs.

“We have heard rumours of some unscrupulous processors adding harmful substances to quickly ferment their fufu,” she said.

Another resident and trader of the staple, simply known as Mama Chinonso, at Costain, said she used a warmer to preserve her fufu.

She said the method could keep the fufu fresh for three days during warm weather and up to one week during cold weather.

“I don’t add anything to preserve my fufu for long. When I am supplied, I simply keep it in my warmer to maintain its freshness.

“In warm weather, the fufu can last for three days and still be edible, but in cold weather, it can last up to a week.

“My family and I eat from it, so I won’t sell what I cannot eat,” she said.