Food experts have warned Nigerians to be cautious of food they eat and called on the government to regulate abattoirs as most of them are infested with food-borne pathogens and contribute to public health burdens.
They said this as the World Food Safety Day was celebrated on June 7, with this year’s theme, ‘Safer food, better health,’ highlighting the role that safe, nutritional food plays in ensuring human health and well-being.
A public health specialist at the Department of Veterinary Public Health and Preventive Medicine, University of Ibadan, Prof. (Mrs) Victoria Adetunji, listed errors that could lead to food-borne diseases as cross-contamination, especially between raw and cooked food items and contaminated surfaces; inadequate cooking or reheating of food to eliminate pathogens; preparation of food many hours before consumption, combined with its storage at temperatures which favour growth of pathogenic bacteria and or formation of toxins.
