… Not really – NAFDAC
By Steve Agbata
As consumers of fresh tomatoes and farmers at large battle with scarcity the product across major markets in the country due to the outbreak of “Tuta Absoluta” or “tomato Ebola”, which has severely ravaged tomato production in Nigeria, many are already switching to tomato pastes, opening windows for importers to bring in substandard tomato pastes, especially from China. But some experts believe 85 per cent of such products are not properly processed even though they may be reddish in colour may contain elements that cause cancer and other diseases.
A recent discovery by the global food safety concerns on processed fruits and vegetables indicated that a group of Asians and their Nigerian collaborators have been importing diseases by selling starch and colouring in the name of tomato pastes. Apart from the cancer-causing colouring, the starch contained in those products is clearly harmful to unsuspecting diabetic patients, showing how vulnerable Nigeria’s food security readiness is.
This has made Nigeria to be ranked among developing countries that give too much priority to importation of substandard products worth N15 billion annually.
The Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Erisco Foods, Chief Eric Odinaka Umeofia, however, blamed those in authority who, out of their selfish gains, pave way for such imports to flourish, while undermining the health of Nigerians.
The Erisco boss did not leave government agencies like NAFDAC out of the blame, insisting that they made government to believe that imported tomato pastes are superior to locally produced ones, thereby down playing the hazards of some of the imported ones.
According to him, the existing loopholes in policy formulation and implementation have allowed a preference of imported products over locally produced ones. He described the situation as unfortunate, as the so-called foreign products are substandard and cannot match locally produced ones.
But while challenging the allegations made by the manufacturers, NAFDAC’s Director of Planning, Research and Statistics, Samson Adebayo, advised that they come forward with evidence of anyone whose death was traceable to the consumption of imported tomato paste.
Adebayo insisted that not only was the survey restricted to Lagos, but that it would be wrong to ban any product based on a single study. He further accused the manufacturers of seeking the ban of imported products to create demand for their brands as according to him , the official survey of the agency showed that only 30 percent of products failed to meet set standards.
Earlier in his welcome address, Chairman of the Committee on Healthcare Services, Chike Okafor (APC-Imo) assured that the investigations of the House include the testing of products. He disclosed that the joint committee will visit suppliers in China, India and the United States where majority of importers procure tomato concrete for production.
Okafor equally stated that a full list of the products that fail the tests to be conducted by the House will be published in the media.
Addressing journalists recently, he predicted that a basket of tomato might go for N70,000 by 2017 if government fails to listen to indigenous companies on how to solve the problem of tomato ebola caused by heat ravaging tomato farms in the country.
He then urged Nigerians to go for indigenous and locally made products to avoid untimely death, adding that most of those so-called imported products are fakes and can’t match what Nigerians are producing here.
He said locally made Ric-Giko tomato paste is better than foreign products in the market, since it is hygienically processed and has a proven quality compared to the fake products Nigerians are cajoled into believing as better off because they are imported.
He added: “People are just taking advantage of their positions in authority to work against the progress of this country and the government is not doing anything to stop them. They give preference to imported products because they are the ones handling the contracts and they are making huge amounts for themselves while the local industries are suffering.
He called on the government to put good policies in place that will place value on locally manufactured products over imported ones. He lamented that no country has ever grown its economy with foreign products, urging government to realise this fact and take necessary measures against the influx of substandard goods.