Over 200,000 Nigerians—mostly children—die annually from food-related illnesses, says Minister
Approximately 200,000 people in Nigeria, many of them children, die each year due to foodborne diseases, according to the Minister of Innovation, Science, and Technology, Uche Geoffrey Nnaji. He made this statement during the launch of a food safety operational manual for food business operators, market vendors, and street food sellers in Abuja on Thursday,Daily Trust reports.
Citing data from the World Health Organization (WHO), Nnaji noted that over 600 million people worldwide fall sick every year from contaminated food, with Africa suffering the highest per capita impact. He highlighted that Nigeria alone loses around $3.6 billion annually due to foodborne illnesses—through reduced productivity, healthcare expenses, and trade restrictions.
The newly introduced manual, Nnaji said, directly addresses these challenges by offering a unified, science-based guide for local government food inspectors and safety officers, especially those working in informal food settings like open markets, roadside kiosks, and street food stalls.
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“These are the places where Nigerians across all income levels source their daily meals—and where food safety risks are often most severe,” he said. “We’re dealing with practices like using paracetamol to tenderize meat, fermenting cassava with detergents, and adulterating red oil and pepper with industrial dyes such as Sudan IV. These are not cultural mistakes—they are criminal acts.”
He emphasized that, under Sections 243 and 244 of Nigeria’s Criminal Code Act, selling or distributing toxic or harmful food is a prosecutable offense. The health consequences, he warned, are grave, including rising cases of kidney failure, liver cirrhosis, cancers, and other life-threatening non-communicable diseases.
In just the first quarter of 2025, Nnaji reported, cholera claimed 378 lives and Lassa fever infected over 3,500 Nigerians—many of these cases linked to poor food hygiene and contamination from rodents. “This must end. And this manual marks a critical step in that direction,” he said.
Supporting the initiative, Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate—represented by Adeola Olufowobi-Yusuf—shared findings from the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), which show that around 20% of hospital admissions in urban areas are linked to foodborne diseases. He stressed the importance of food scientists, researchers, and innovators in advancing public health.
Pate added that the ministry has been actively working with state governments to develop national guidelines that strengthen food safety at the community level. “These localized guidelines are designed to address specific regional challenges and ensure all Nigerians benefit from effective food safety practices,” he explained.
Nkechi Veronica Ezeh, CEO of the Nigerian Council for Food Science and Technology (NiCFoST), hailed the operational manual as a groundbreaking achievement. She described it as a comprehensive and essential tool to help food safety officers regulate, monitor, and enforce food safety standards across markets, restaurants, bakeries, kiosks, and other public food outlets, in accordance with Chapter 8 of the Fourth Schedule of the Nigerian Constitution, which outlines the duties of local government councils.
