Commission Warns Against Harmful Food Practices, Urges Compliance With Safety Standards

Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) has cautioned food producers and vendors against harmful practices such as chemical ripening of fruits, adulteration of food items, and poor hygiene in food handling, describing them as grave threats to public health and consumer trust.

At a sensitisation campaign on food quality standards, safety, regulation, and fair business practices held yesterday at the Gidauniya Hall, in Kano, the executive vice chairman of the FCCPC, Mr. Olatunji Bello, represented by the director of Quality Assurance and Development, Dr. Nkechi Mba, said the commission remains committed to ensuring consumers’ rights and welfare in Nigeria.

He noted that food safety is a shared responsibility between regulators, producers, and consumers, emphasising that a nation that poisons its people cannot prosper.

Bello decried the increasing use of toxic substances such as calcium carbide, bromate, and formalin in food processing, warning that any operator who prioritises profit over public safety would face the full wrath of the law.

According to him, “Improper handling and contamination across the food value chain, from farm to table, such as poor storage conditions, unhygienic environment, poor waste disposal, exposure of food stuffs to flies, insects, and rodents, etc.

These practices not only endanger the lives of millions of Nigerians, but they also erode consumer trust and sabotage the integrity of our food systems.”

He added that the Commission is working closely with agencies such as the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration Control(NAFDAC), Standard Organisation of Nigeria(SON), the Ministries of Health and Agriculture, and other stakeholders to ensure strict compliance with food safety standards and fair business practices nationwide.

“To all stakeholders present: farmers, food processors, vendors, and business owners, you are critical to the nation’s food security and health, as they say, ‘you are what you eat’. Therefore, you all have the responsibility and duty of care to the public as every product you put on the shelves for consumers affects a family or a community positively or negatively,” he cautioned.

Earlier in his welcome address, FCCPC’s director of Consumer and Business Education, Mr. Yahaya Kudan, described the event as a platform to educate stakeholders on identifying and preventing harmful food practices.

He urged participants to act as advocates for food safety within their communities.

He noted that, the sensitisation campaign aims to highlight the dangers of forced fruit ripening, adulterated palm oil, and contaminated meat and grains, stressing that protecting food quality is essential for public health and national development.