The Federal Government has empowered the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) to undertake more effectively its mandate in the regulation of processed and packaged foods in the country.
During 2019 World Food Safety Day in Abuja, the Permanent Secretary, Abdullahi Mashi of the Federal Ministry of Health said that the theme of the year’s celebration is ‘Food Safety, Everyone’s Business’, saying that food remains an essential part of our daily life.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), foodborne diseases in 2015 was found to have made approximately 600 million people sick and caused 420,000 untimely deaths.
Mashi said that unsafe foods have also been shown to lead to yearly productivity losses of about $95 billion in Low- and Middle-Income Countries.
He added that unsafe food practices abound across the country, including unhealthy cultivation practices through the use of unapproved chemicals such as calcium carbide in fruit and vegetable ripening and fertilisers.
Mashi said non-hygienic food preparation as seen in the way foods are prepared by the roadsides, gutters, and near open faecal defecation areas could lead to diseases such as Typhoid, Cholera, Diarrhoea, Botulism, Listeriosis, Hepatitis A, Cancer and among others.
Mashi said that unsafe food practices abound across the country, including unhealthy cultivation practices through the use of unapproved chemicals such as calcium carbide in fruit and vegetable ripening and fertilisers.
(NAN)
