A food safety expert, Dr Malgwi Usman, last Saturday urged the Federal Government to establish a Food Safety Service Agency to regulate food handling and hygiene in the country.

Usman, National Project Coordinator, Food Safety and Hygiene, Africa Hope Foundation (AHF), a non-governmental organisation, made the call in an interview with The Tide in Lagos.

He said that the way and manner food was handled in Nigeria constituted a major threat to live.

“We want the Federal Government to come to the aid of its citizenry by setting up a Food Safety Service Agency to look into the issue of food handling and services.

“AHF, a non-governmental organisation, can also be empowered to give voluntary services from the grassroots to the federal level to meet the yearnings and aspirations of the people.

“If you look at the way and manner food is handled in the country, you will notice that food that is supposed to sustain our lives has become severe threat to us.Many people have lost their lives to food borne and water related diseases, he said.

According to him, the number of lives such diseases have claimed in the country is more than the lives lost through accidents and HIV/AIDS.

Another medical expert, Mrs Edith Ugwuanyi, the President and Chief Executive Officer of AHF, said there was need for total re-orientation for food handlers.

“Food handling practises are major causative factors of food poisoning that are prevalent in most Nigerian eateries, homes and roadside food outlets.We have been plagued with unsafe food, water, poor preparation and storage of food, unclean environment that are obtainable in the mama puts, road side food eateries, akara, yams, and suya makers.” he said, adding that they all have in one way or the other, adulterated our foods with dust mites, their sweat, unclean hands and improperly washed utensils.

“In fact, in some of our hotels, the surroundings may look great but the kitchen and work areas may surprise you.

“They are so dirty and a breeding place for bacteria and viruses,” she said.

Ugwuanyi said that unhygienic food and drinking unclean water could cause diarrhoea, nausea and vomiting, lethargy (weakness), typhoid, food poisoning and possibly death.

She said that AHF was established to sensitise people on proper ways to handle food

We have come to create awareness through educating all food handlers across board and also putting in place continuous monitoring system to curb these poor habits that have plagued Nigerians for several decades.We are poor in our food etiquettes and we need to eliminate these poor habits of food preparation and serving, she said.