QUALITY AND SAFETY OF STREET VENDED FOOD IN NIGERIA

BY
FIDEL AZUBUIKE AGU

There are few things in life that involves as much trust as eating food prepared by some one else. This brings to mind the activities of street food vendors in Nigeria. By way of simple definition, street vended foods are ready-to-eat food and beverages prepared and or sold by vendors and hawkers especially in streets and other public places. They are likely to be the least expensive and most accessible means of obtaining ones daily nutritional needs when out of home. They could be stationary, mobile or semi-mobile. The availability and accessibility of street vended foods not withstanding, the quality and safety have remained a thing of serious concern.
According to surveys carried out in 2006 and 2007 by the department of Public Health of the Federal Ministry of Health, there were more than two million recorded cases of food borne diseases in the country with the number of death put at over five hundred. Some of these cases could be linked to consumption of contaminated street vended foods. Also in 2008, the Consumer Protection Council’s, CPC, survey on street vended foods within the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, was to say the least tragic, as it also gave a similar scenario that presupposes that the situation could be worse in the hinterland where most facilities such as portable water and electricity are irregular.
Have we spared a thought on not only the hygienic preparation of most of the junk foods we eat, but even the packaging and presentation? The Akara we buy from the road side seller is either wrapped with old newspapers or cement bag. The Kilishi (spiced dried meat) is wrapped with cement bag. Suya and many more, also pass through this ugly and unhealthy process before we eat them.
Do we also know that heaps of old newspapers and other kinds of papers are a good habitual for cockroaches and other insects that can cause serious illness such as malaria, cholera, typhoid, dysentery, diarrhea etc. Do we also realize the harmful effects of cement to our body system? One is aware that in most homes from where these newspapers and cement bags are sold to the Suya or Akara sellers, they apply the popular but deadly otapiapia to ward off the menace of cockroaches and other insects that breed in their homes because of the presence of such heaps of papers. The Kunu seller picks her used bottled water cans from the streets not minding what it has been subjected to. Is it the popular pure water that is produced without the least hygienic and environmental regulations. The list is indeed endless. Nigeria is an agrarian country blessed with a variety of food. Regrettably, a majority of our food vendors, particularly street food vendors are not conversant with the best practices in street food presentation, packaging and preservation.
Indeed, many of them do not know how to prepare and vend these food items in the most hygienic manner. Over the years, Nigerians have come to appreciate local delicacies commonly hawked in our streets to the extend that it has now become a tradition to patronize such foods. However, whereas this can be considered as positively promoting our culture and tourism, there is need for Nigerians to be protected from health hazards associated with street vended foods. Health, they say, is wealth and it is our responsibility as concerned citizens to ensure that food vended to consumers are hygienically prepared, packaged and presented. Major stakeholders should draw public attention to the numerous issues that surround quality and safety of street vended food by carefully educating our street food vendors and environmental health workers on these issues. Ultimately, they should ensure that food delicacies such as suya (barbecued meat on sticks) Kilishi (spiced dried meat) Kulikuli (biscuits from ground nuts or maize) Isiewu (goat-head pepper soup) Moi-moi, Akara (bean cake) and a host of other foods which most Nigerians enjoy and patronize are prepared and served in a way that they enhance good health rather than constitute health problems.
We can not therefore afford to toil with the life of Nigerians, it becomes imperative that vendors in Nigeria should be registered and made to pass basic health and hygienic examinations before they engage in street food vending business. They should also source for good quality raw materials in food preparation and provide standard packaging that will preserve the quality of food items. It is on this note that the synergy between the National Orientation Agency and the Consumer Protection Council to train street Food Vendors on appropriate food preparation methods, presentation and preservation, as well as the maintenance of good personal hygiene by all those engaged in the business of food vending is commendable. We hope this engagement will be sustained and be made to permeate the entire fabric of our society.

SOURCE: RECORDED LIVE FROM FRCN DAILY COMMENTARY