Fufu, which comes from cassava, is definitely one of the most prevalent foods eaten in homes, especially in southern Nigeria.
The Igbos call it Akpu, the Calabar and others call it fufu akpan or ekpo, while the Yorubas name it Fufu.
It’s definitely a treat that’s hard to pass up, especially when there’s nice soup to go with it.
Saturday Guardian says that although though it is widely used, it is becoming a severe health danger because of some harmful ways it is processed.
For example, research found that some of the producers purposefully add toxic chemicals to soaked cassava to make it softer.
Peeling, washing, soaking, fermenting, and filtering are all important phases in the process of making fufu. Soaking and fermenting usually take three to four days, but most of the time they take longer than four days. This is when producers come up with clever ways to make soaked cassavas soft.
Investigators found that pesticides, bleach, and detergents are often used to make wet cassava ferment in two days, although most consumers don’t know this.
Mrs. Ajayi, one of the fufu producers who confirmed this terrible act, said she hates the practice of mixing dangerous chemicals with cassava because it goes against her conscience. She also said that her faith doesn’t allow her to do anything that could hurt other people for any reason.
Some producers do speed up the process that should take four or five days to only one day by soaking the raw cassava in the detergents or bleach of their choosing. This is true because they want to make rapid money.
“This always makes the cassava soft by force. People who don’t know how dangerous the things they buy and eat are just fall victim to these producers and get stuck.
“I feel sorry for these people who don’t know what’s in the food they’re eating and how bad it is for them,” she said. “They bought it with their own money.”
Festus Peter Adekunle, a medical officer, warned that using bleach and detergents to soften cassava had very bad effects on people’s health.
“When eaten, this mixture with cassava can cause cancer or break down red blood cells in the body. Victims who were infected would lose weight, which could be mistaken for a normal illness. They wouldn’t know that it was caused by eating fufu that had been polluted with bleach and detergents.
“The amount of harm done to the victims’ bodies is beyond comprehension. My clear opinion on this risky move is that those producers are doing a terrible crime that hurts the bodies of those who use their toxic goods.
“My advise is to cease these inhumane behaviors because this crime can only be seen as selfish because of money, and they can’t measure how much damage they are doing to the bodies of their unfortunate victims.
“I just wonder what type of money they want that makes them put other people’s life in danger. As a medical officer, I can declare without a doubt that the end does not justify the means. The money they are chasing at the expense of innocent lives is the kind of money they want to gain by any means, even if it means hurting someone else.
Prof. Mojisola Adeleye, during an interview with Tosin Omolaja of NAFDAC on World Safety Day, cautioned Nigerians to be vigilant about their consumption to prevent drug misuse. She also emphasized that food safety is a collective obligation of the government, producers, and consumers.
“NAFDAC is in charge of making sure that the food we eat is safe, and food safety is really important. Food must be safe to eat, and any food that is given to customers must be safe and made in a way that is honest and true.
“We want every manufacturer to make food that is safe to eat and to be careful not to sell food that is harmful or contaminated and could make people sick. We also think that people should make sure that the food they eat is appropriately processed.
Dr. Valentine Okpone Ottis, Managing Director of ACCAPPOCCO, Global Services Limited, a company that provides Health, Safety, and Environmental (HSE) training and consulting, also spoke out against the practice, calling it unlawful.
It is against the law to mix cassava with bleach and detergents. It is not right to mix organic and inorganic things.
He went on to say that people shouldn’t eat inorganic materials because they can be harmful and cancer-causing in the human body.
“Biomas are not for eating, so anyone who sees someone mixing cassava with bleach and detergents should call the police.
“This is where lobbying is very vital, and this is where the government needs to step in strongly. There is support in the business world, but the government needs more in the public world. Some foods are unsafe to eat in your area. This is where quality control becomes very important, especially when it comes to making food.
In his statement, Professor John Adebayo Oyedepo from the Institute of Food Security, Environmental Resources, and Agricultural Research at the University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, said that the malfeasance was due to ineffective government policies.
“We’ve found that a lot of Nigeria’s policies aren’t working or they reach a certain point in the implementation process and then change direction.”
“Organizations like NAFDAC need to pay attention to more than just the industrial sector. They also need to pay attention to hotels, local businesses, and individual producers.
“Who knows the people who grow food in their backyards or homes and sell it to the public? Environmental sanitation agencies and NAFDAC should be doing more work here by closely watching every food manufacturer.
“Because of the status of the economy, everyone wants to survive. These people go to the extreme by mixing cassava with bleach and detergents and selling it as food for others to eat, which causes deadly diseases like cancer and others.
“My recommendation is that policies should be looked at again every now and then. What, for example, is NAFDAC’s job when it comes to food, medications, and other things they are expected to cover? I think that the local council should also be involved in the field of food monitoring. The municipal government should have offices for agencies like NAFDAC.
People question what the job of local councils is when they are meant to be in charge of the grassroots, find the problems there, and fix them. In developed countries, the local council or municipal council is in charge of the difficulties in question. They recognize where the problems are and fix them on time.
“This is why I keep talking about reviewing policies and making them work better,” he said.
Afolayan Kayode Emmanuel, the Executive Director of Drugfield Pharmaceuticals Limited, said that the people who did it are hiding behind weak enforcement of rules that apply to food.
“The government should care about the lives of the people and be able to make good rules and make sure that those rules and policies are followed.”
When we talk about enforcing policies and rules, it shouldn’t be for money. The people who enforce the rules or policies shouldn’t be doing it for their own gain and ignoring the lives of the people the rules and policies are supposed to protect.
“When people know that criminals will be punished, they will pay more attention and start to value life more. He remarked, “When people are aware of safety in everything they do or make, even when the economy is bad, they will focus on the quality of the products and not just on making money.”
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