Watch out for adulterated foodstuffs this season

Many Nigerians are aware of the existence of fake pharmaceutical products and the danger that they pose to the country’s healthcare system.

Apart from being a cankerworm that has, eaten deep into the fabric of the healthcare system, fake drugs have caused life-threatening disabilities in some individuals, worsened the health of sick patients and led to the untimely deaths of many Nigerians.

Just as counterfeit medicine can still be found in many drug stores across the country, adulterated food products are very much available in the markets. Unfortunately, many people are not aware of this.

In 2014, the National Agency for Food, Drugs Administration and Control, seized a truck load of adulterated food products from the popular Idumota Market in Lagos. The seized items comprised tins of baked beans, sardines, tomato sauce and other processed food items.

Other products confiscated by the NAFDAC were substandard cosmetics and detergents used in household cleaning. In fact, the list of adulterated food items, confectionery and cosmetics on display was endless and almost disconcerting.

Medical experts have issued a warning to consumers to avoid fake food products. The caution, they note, is not to stir unnecessary suspicion about products sold in the country. On the contrary, it is to inform most consumers that many food items and other consumables that they use in their homes are being adulterated.

The consumption and use of adulterated products pose as much danger to individual health as the use of substandard and fake drugs.

Here are some food items that are mostly adulterated and the danger they pose to health.

Cooking oils

According to a 2013 global survey on counterfeiting by the Food Drugs and Administration, United States, vegetable oils and other cooking oils, including olive oil and palm oil are some of the most adulterated food products in history.

It is believed that more than 70 per cent of vegetable oils available in Nigeria have been ‘doctored’ with other questionable products.

Consultant cardiologist, Dr. Segun Akinsanya , says that eating foods cooked with adulterated oils may increase the risk of coronary heart diseases and other cardiovascular diseases.

Akinsanya says, “Apart from the fact that you will not get any benefit from using them, they harm your health. Adulterated oil is one that is not up to the acceptable standard. It has been doctored with other products for selfish gain.

“They are not always properly refined, which means that they are not safe for consumption. Some of these products have not been processed to the stage that makes it possible for the body to access their nutrients and benefits. So you are just consuming junk in concentrated forms, which will later clog your arteries and blood vessels.”

Also, cooking with adulterated oil can put one at the risk of contracting cancer. For instance, several studies have shown that the use of red 24, a dye usually used in colouring plastics and waxes, to improve the colour of palm oil – a popular cooking oil in Nigerian – can be injurious to health.

“Some people even use chlorine, a bleaching agent to bleach and change the colour of cooking oil. Chlorine is capable of setting off a strong reaction within the walls of the stomach when ingested in these oils.” Over time, it works to erode the walls of the stomach, causing peptic ulcer and other cancers of the stomach,” Akinsanya notes.

The good news is that there are ways to determine whether the oil you want to buy or the one you have been using is real or adulterated. According to Akinsanya, the smell and taste of some cooking oils quickly give them away to observant buyers.

He says, “If it tastes crude and harsh, you should know that it is not well refined. If it smells like petroleum, then know that other substances have been added to it and that is why it smells foul. Don’t buy it. If it was presented to you as a gift, throw it out of the window.”

Powdered milk

Powdered milk is one of the highest traded food commodities across the globe according to studies by food analysts. Powdered milk is particularly significant for nursing mothers and their babies.

It is a booming business and counterfeiters are aware of it. It is used in infant formulas and baked goods. Even adults add it to their beverages, which is good enough reason why people of all ages must be careful when purchasing it.

Nutritionist, Dr. Tayo Ajayi, says studies have shown that some counterfeiters substitute some proteins in milk with chalk, salt and other whitish substances that are harmful to the body.

Ajayi states that consuming adulterated milk predisposes one to gastrointestinal diseases, a condition, that can lead to stomach ulcers.

He says, “Some children that took substandard and adulterated infant formulas died of diarrhoea and other gastro-intestinal diseases. Mothers must watch out for this. Read the labels carefully. Any spelling error should give the product away as fake. Don’t take it or give to your child.”