Scientist Warns Against Roadside Food Consumption

A Port Harcourt-based food
scientist, Mrs Helen Anderson, yesterday warned Nigerians against consuming food sold on roadsides to reduce the risk of food poisoning.
Anderson told newsmen in Port Harcourt that careless consumption of foods especially from roadsides had caused avoidable deaths.
“Many of the foods they sell at bus stops, motor parks and during traffic jams are substandard for human consumption. Our people rush such foods because they are often cheap; you know an average Nigerian goes for quantity instead of quality,’’ she said.
The food scientist said that some people resorted to the sale of substandard and expired foods due to poverty and described the development as criminal and inhuman.
She said that Nigerians should be careful of what they “take into their body’’ in order to avoid diseases such as cholera.
The food scientist urged the National Agency for Food Drug Administration and Control and other regulatory agencies to initiate measures to deal with the situation.
“We cannot afford to allow some greedy and wicked individuals to depopulate us in the name of struggle for survival,’’ she said.
According to her, it is very important to subject food vendors to strict supervision so as to ascertain the quality of their foods.
The nutritionist said that it was time for regulatory agencies to apprehend and prosecute sellers of substandard foods.