By Saheed Ibrahim
& Olamide Talub

Nigerians have been put on the alert of food poisoning by the unprofessional activities of some caterers who use deadly substances to prepare food for unsuspecting customers.

The alert is coming on the heels of food vendors who aid their food preparation with paracetamol, nails, chewing gum, alum, potash and other deadly substances.

Scientists who raised the alarm said many Nigerians will continue to battle organ diseases such as liver damage and kidney failure as caterers and food vendors prepare food with the deadly substances.

Our investigation revealed that food vendors add the substances to soften meat, cow skin (ponmon), beans and also to fry fish in order to save time and cooking resources.

Health professionals have, however, warned that such practices could lead to damage of vital body organs.

Some of the food vendors, who spoke with The Hope, confirmed that the practice of adding substances to food preparation had been a usual habit without the knowledge of the public.

Speaking on the use of paracetamol, a certified caterer, Mrs Rabiu Baliqees confirmed to The Hope that caterers used paracetamol and potash to fry fish in order to avoid being burnt.

“There is also the use of potash too, we call it Kahun in Yoruba, I witnessed that myself, the woman cooking added potash to fry fish and these information, all these secrets are something they do not disclose to anybody until you witness it”, she disclosed.

Another caterer, who pleaded anonymity, revealed that paracetamol tablets were added in large quantity to boil tough meat, cow skin, cow leg or to prepare beans.

She added that food vendors can also pour nails inside the meat or beans to soften quickly.

“We do pour the paracetamol in large quantity. Not the one in sachet but the counting one inside containers. Adding paracetamol is a secret among caterers and food vendors but we will not do it when people or clients will see it.

“If we do not add nails, we can pour iron spoons inside what we are cooking. They work well too. We add potash but too much of it can change the taste of what we are cooking,” she revealed.

One popular caterers in Akure, Mrs Olamide Michael-Adesana attested to the fact that ponmo sellers wash their products using alum instead of salt.

She said, “It is very true, they use alum or salt to wash their ponmo especially when they have leftovers from their last sales.”

The Hope gathered that this practice was adopted to prevent ponmon from getting totally spoilt or to repackage almost-spoilt ponmon for the buyers as alums will make it look strong.

This was corroborated by a “Ponmon” dealer, Alhaja Adeola Habeebilahi that “When they kill these fresh cows at the abattoir, they keep its skin with the use of alum or salt because too much of these cowskin can go to waste. Once it is preserved and packaged, wastage can be averted.

“We have different types of alum, the people that use them make use of water alum and since they noticed it was fine, they went for it. They use it for washing snails too. Whatever must have made them use it to wash snail without any effect on the body, they surely believe using it on ponmo won’t be dangerous to the body as well.

Reacting to these revelations, the Senior Registrar, Department of Family Medicine, Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Owo, Dr Samuel Aluko confirmed that cooking with paracetamol, nail, chewing gum and other substances had been a usual practice among food vendors and they had impacts on the health of the consumers.

“Definitely all these materials will have some deposits in the meat, which is actually going into our gastrointestinal system and having some subtle impacts on our health.

“Like paracetamol, it can affect the liver and cause liver damage. Ordinary paracetamol, when taken at a very high dosage or “unprescribed dosage can cause liver damage and all other materials they use too can actually impact on our organs, especially the liver and kidney.

“That’s why you see lot of people coming down with liver infection, hepatitis, coming down with kidney infection, renal failure, the medical expert decried.

Aluko called for more education to enlighten the food vendors on the public on the dangers associated with the practice.

Also speaking, a food scientist, Mr Sunday Oyewole stated that the only acceptable way to soften your tough meat was by cooking with pressure pot or soaking tough meat inside salt solution before cooking.

“But when you go ahead and use paracetamol which is the one trending now, these are drugs, when used for cooking, it hydrolyze and break down into compounds which are highly toxic to the liver and kidney because the major victim in the body is the liver and the kidney.

“And you see when you use potash as well, this potash contain a very low potassium and high in sodium which can cause kidney failure and it can also cause low sperm count, low sperm production when eaten in excess by men.

“Also, it can trigger high blood pressure as well and then hypertensive patients are advised to stay clear of food prepared with potash”, the food scientist warned.

Mr Oyewole further said that there were other several dangers associated with cooking with nails and the identified substances.