Food as poison, By Lande Ọmọ Ọba

Like many, I was intrigued by former Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo’s recent comments about his wife, Dolapo, and her daily glass of freshly squeezed orange juice. The story caught my attention because it was as ordinary as it was relatable. Here was someone trying to make a healthier choice. She had stopped drinking carbonated drinks and switched to fresh orange juice. Then, according to the former vice president, she started experiencing recurring headaches. A batch of the juice was eventually sent for laboratory testing and was reportedly found unfit for human consumption.

He did not say exactly what was found, and that matters. We should not suddenly make oranges the villain of this story. But the tale raises a bigger question: how safe is the food we assume is healthy? We are in the middle of a health and wellness boom. Many of us are exercising more, cutting down on sugar, eating more vegetables and fruits, watching our blood pressure and trying to eat better. I agree with all of that. But surely the healthy choice must also be the safe choice.

One of my favourite fruits has always been the agbalumo, the African star apple. I have loved it since childhood because of that unmistakable sweet-and-sour tang. Over the last couple of seasons in Lagos, however, I noticed that many of the ones I bought were unusually large and almost sugar-sweet. Perhaps there is a perfectly innocent explanation. I do not know. But around the same time, I began seeing disturbing videos online purporting to show fruits being injected with a sweetener.

I cannot verify those videos, and I would not present them as evidence. But they left me with a simple question: How would I know if someone has tampered with the food I am buying? This is not an unreal concern. A new international study on unintentional acute pesticide poisoning estimated Nigeria at 69 per cent among the Western African countries assessed, second only to Burkina Faso. The researchers acknowledge that the data are uneven and poisoning is often under-reported, but the findings are still troubling.

I am sure many have this experience: you buy plantain that looks ripe off a street hawker only to get home and find it unripe inside of it. Who is to blame? It is also easy to make the farmer the villain of this story. The truth, though, may be more complicated. Some farmers may be using chemicals without adequate training, proper protective equipment or a clear understanding of the risks. So protecting consumers must also mean protecting farmers.

Then comes regulation. Following Professor Osinbajo’s comments, NAFDAC’s Director-General explained that fresh farm produce such as oranges, apples, yam, etc. do not primarily fall under NAFDAC, but more with the agricultural authorities. That may make sense within government, but the ordinary Nigerian buying food in the market does not care much about who has authority or jurisdiction. If I see something suspicious happening to fruit tomorrow, who exactly do I call? If I have to understand the structure of government before I can report something dangerous happening to my food, then we already have a problem.

My recent trip from the UK to the United States brought this reality home to me. I had grapes, fresh dates and clementines with me, but I knew I could not simply carry the fresh fruit off the plane into America. So I left it behind. I was not ready for “wahala” with the US immigration services.  The American rules are mainly about preventing pests and plant diseases, not pesticide residues, but what struck me was the seriousness of the control. Someone has identified where risk can enter the system and put barriers there.

I am not suggesting Nigeria should copy every rule in America or Britain. But I like the principle: prevention matters. So where are our own points of control? This is where government must become much more practical. We need random testing of produce in major markets, and the results should be published. If something unsafe is found, trace it back through the supply chain. Farmers need better training on what chemicals they are using, how much to apply and how long to wait before harvesting. Pesticide sellers need tighter regulation, while the most hazardous products should be phased out where they cannot be used safely. The study on pesticide poisoning in the sub-region suggests phasing out highly hazardous pesticides where risks cannot be properly managed or identified.

We also need a simple, well-publicised reporting channel for consumers and the putting in place of incentives for those who do right and consequences for those who do wrong. It is for government to sort out internally which agency has jurisdiction. It is not our responsibility as citizens to do so. And yes, there is also a morality and values question. It is indeed not plausible to have a regulator or inspector stand beside every basket of tomatoes. So if someone knowingly puts a harmful substance in food just to hasten the ripening process or to look fresher or larger, that is not only a regulatory failure. It is a moral one too.

Having said this, I do not think we should reduce everything to bad character or evil intentions. Poor exposure, lack of training, inadequate regulatory oversight, poor controls and enforcement all matter. If we want safer food, we have to address the whole chain. I don’t think that we should suddenly become afraid of consuming oranges because of the experience of the former vice president’s wife, and I certainly do not intend to stop eating agbalumo. But these experiences should make us ask harder questions about the journey our food takes before it reaches us.

All of a sudden we have become a healthier country with gyms all over the place, with people selling supplements and healthy food and drinks, we are crazy about exercising, cutting down on sugar, choosing fruit instead of fizzy drinks and trying to live healthier lives. Surely we should also be able to trust that the food we are choosing has not quietly become another health risk. If we cannot confidently answer the simple question, “Who is keeping our food safe?”, then that is a conversation Nigeria urgently needs to have.

As we often like to say “health is wealth”. It is a no brainer to say that we need a healthy citizenry if our country is to become wealthy.