Ogbonna Chiamaka Happiness U19MM1038
A common English proverb says an apple a day keeps the doctor away. That is how important fruits are to our health and well-being.
According to the Harvard T.H. Chan school of public health, diet rich in fruits and vegetables is strongly linked to a lower risk of several major health issues. Eating fruits is an excellent way to improve our overall health as well as reduce risk of disease. We Nigerians eat a lot of fruits, whether for the sweetness of them or for health purposes.
Fruits are an excellent source of essential vitamins and minerals, they are high in fiber. Some of the commonest fruits that we eat in Nigeria include banana, orange, apple, lemon, lime, avocado, mango, strawberry, blueberries, pineapple, grapefruits, and watermelon among others.
Fruits come in all shape and sizes, and different fruits have different health benefits. The Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reaffirmed that by eating fruit, a person is providing the body with key vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and dietary fiber. This can have a significant benefit for heart health, digestion, weight management, and skin health. People can enjoy a wide variety of fruits to improve their health and lower the risk of inflammation, heart disease, cancer, obesity, and diabetes. Some of these fruits are imported into the country, while some are cultivated at home.
As good as these fruits are for our health, many have raised concern over the manner in which they are preserved before they are imported into the country or how the ones grown at home are ripened. It is therefore something to worry about when harmful chemicals are used to preserve the fruits or hasten their ripening.
About 4 weeks ago, I bought some apples from the open market. I ate them, of course, but one was missing. I had thought it had gotten lost on the way while coming back from the market. But as at yesterday, while I was checking through my foodstuffs, I found this particular apple. I bought it from a local fruit stand and I never put it in a fridge but this apple is still looking the same. It has not rotten or decayed and has suffered no change in colour or in texture. It is unbelievable!
Natural fruits will not exceed 7 days without refrigeration. They will start rotting and or fermenting. Now the question is: why are the imported apples sold on the streets so long lasting? Are they Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO)? Are they safe? Are they synthetic? Are they manufactured rather than the product of trees? Who checks on these things to avoid danger to citizens?
I found the apple and other imported apples to be suspect. You can experiment this yourself and you will be amazed at how long it will stay seemingly fresh. This takes me to the forced ripening of fruits by fruit dealers. In a quest to force ripen fruits for monetary gains, fruits dealers use carbide. This carbide causes various health hazards such as headache, dizziness, mood disturbance, sleepiness, mental confusion, memory loss and seizures.
Most artificial ripening agents are toxic and their consumption can cause serious health problems such as heart disease, skin disease, lung failure and kidney failure. The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) have also reported that regular consumption of fruits ripened with calcium carbide may cause dizziness, general body weakness, skin ulcer and heart related diseases.
Similarly, the grains that we eat including beans are preserved in questionable circumstances. For example, a study published on ResearchGate titled “Preserving or Poisoning: A Case of Dried-Beans from Nigeria” found that merchants and storekeepers were directly applying toxic pesticides in high doses, leading to dangerously high residue levels. These experts from organizations and universities have noted that some farmers and merchants use excessive or unauthorized pesticides and fumigants to protect grains and beans from insects and pests.
While some chemicals are approved for use at specific levels, misuse or direct application of highly toxic substances can leave dangerous residues on the food. The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations have repeatedly warned about this risk. Most pesticides have been abused by farmers and traders and are used at pre- and post-harvest storage including open markets to control insect infestation in foods especially beans, oil seeds and similar grains.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), consequences of consuming foods preserved with harmful chemicals include gastrointestinal health issues, brain and other internal tissue damage, blood poisoning, food poisoning, and could also lead to death.
Regulators need to do more to address these problems occasioned by the preservation of food. There is urgent need for self regulation to achieve the desired objective of provision of safe food to consumers. This can only be achieved when there is awareness through dissemination of information on the correct usage of chemicals and stricter management and control of the importation, storage, distribution, transportation and application of chemicals like sniper.
There should be improvement in policy regulating the import, storage, warehousing, distribution and sale of chemicals in Nigeria. NAFDAC should be further strengthened through provision of adequate personnel, training and analytical facilities to do this. School curriculum should also include recognition of safe food, from the primary school level. These recommendations if implemented would help in delivering safer foods to Nigerians.