Beef sausage rolls and beef rolls as they have been christened by their manufacturers are not food products one needs to go far to get in Nigeria.
They roll off the conveyor belts in various factories in their thousands every day and end up being sold along the roads in traffic, corner shops, open market, super markets, virtually in every nook and cranny.
It is one of the most convenience foods for a hungry person. It is a piece of sausage meat baked in a roll of spiced pastry or dough.
Practical food? Yes, because it is handy, tasty, affordable as it sells for N50 each, quite filling especially when eaten with a bottle of drink, can be easily accessed, neatly and safely packaged as a majority of the popular brands are produced by multinational companies.
Beef sausage rolls have become a food product most Nigerians have come to trust and rely on especially when you are hungry and trapped in traffic hold ups like the ones experienced by Lagosians.
The most popular brands are Gala from the UAC foods, Meaty from Leventis Stores, Chopsy beef Rolls manufactured by UTC foods, Super Bite/ Beef Rolls from CHI Ltd, Bigi etcetera.
The sausage industry in Nigeria started with the first brand Gala, from UAC foods, in 1962. Then it was sold only in Lagos. For those outside Lagos State, it was a must-buy for them any time a relation or close ones travel to Lagos. Both adults and children relish the gift of gala sausage roll from Lagos.
However, the market has greatly expanded. With many brands in the offing now, there is virtually no place in the country that one cannot find these snacks. Though the amusing thing is that the name gala has stuck with most people. Most consumers still refer to other brands as gala. It is a common thing to hear a buyer calling on the boys who hawk this product in traffic to bring gala, then when the seller comes with his cartoon filled with the various brands, the buyer will then select or ask for a specific brand. Generally people in most cases refer to all of them as gala.
Is the so called beef sausages/rolls, or should I ask the pastry tasty? Yes. The problem, however, is that consumers do not know if the snacks are qualified to be called beef sausage as a majority of the brands do not seem to have any resemblance of beef in them.
The stuffing that is supposed to be beef does not seem beefy neither does it taste meaty. The filling of the gala of old tasted meaty as is attested to by some consumers and that was why consumers got hooked to the product and when other companies saw their success rate they all went into the business. Unfortunately, they did not imitate the UAC standard of old. What we have as stuffing in the so called beef rolls are just spiced, lumpy, pink coloured dough.
If at all there is any resemblance of minced beef in them, is the percentage of the meat enough to qualify those sausages as beef rolls and beef sausages not to talk of being called ‘Meaty’?
Nigerian consumers definitely deserve to be treated better. They have the right to be fully informed as to what they are buying. Many consumers have registered their anger and concerns with Consumer Watch. Recently, a Public Relations consultant, Larry Ofile Badmus, called in anger after buying one of the so-called beef rolls and wondered why such a product that has no meat in it should be registered by government regulatory agency as a ‘beef roll’.
“They can market the products but under different names that do not reflect or give the impression that the filling is made with beef,” adding that the manufacturers should be called to change the deceptive names or add enough beef to the stuffing to qualify it as a beef roll or ‘Meaty’ sausage”.
However, reacting to the allegations, Mrs. Joan Ihekwaba, the General Manager, Marketing UAC Foods, makers of the leading brand, Gala, strongly stated that “Gala sausage rolls stands out with its unique beef filling made from pure beef, micronutrients, seasonings and other ingredients stated on the packaging in line with regulatory requirements.”
Speaking in an interview, she refuted claims that the Gala of the 80s was of a higher quality than what we have now. She said that UAC Foods has not rested on its laurels but has rather improved its value offering over the years.
“The brand is now 53years old and several improvement initiatives are routinely carried out towards meeting consumer’s expectations. It is the first brand in Nigeria to include micronutrients,” emphasised the GM Marketing, UAC Foods.
Explaining further, Mrs. Ihekwaba said that the company engages in regular consumer research and identifies with aspirations of Nigerians and their appetite for success, thereby providing consumers with top quality safe and healthy convenience foods.
Speaking with a nutritionist and food scientist at the Federal Institute of Industrial Research Oshodi (FIIRO), she said that for those snacks to be qualified to be called beef sausages and beef rolls they must contain between 15% and 20% beef in them.
Analysing the stuffing in most of the popular brands, the civil servant, whose name cannot be mentioned because of civil service rules, said the manufacturers should change their recipes and include enough meat in their products or change the names of those products.
“The stuffing is strong and even stony which should not be the case. It’s just spices, flour, binders, pink food colouring and maybe very tiny amount of minced meat which does not qualify the snacks as meaty or the other names,” she said.
Calling on the manufacturers to stop the deception, she advised them to change their recipes or come to FIIRO for help in reformulating their recipes.
“Though those manufacturers know the right thing to do, it’s just greed for high profit that is beclouding their sense of judgement,” she claimed.
Exonerating NAFDAC, the civil servant said that most of the manufacturers present the right food products for reviews and inspection only to start producing substandard products after NAFDAC, SON must have issued them with approvals.
However, that excuse does not exonerate the regulatory agencies as their duty does not end with the first inspection. They are supposed to carry out regular checks and monitoring to ensure standards are enforced and maintained. Besides, they are residents of this country and definitely they are equally patronising those products.
Reacting to the issue in her office at NAFDAC office, Isolo, Lagos, NAFDAC Public Relations Manager, Mrs. Christie Obiazikwor, said that the sausages actually have beef filling. Strongly debunking claims that the stuffing were anything other than beef, she said that the agency would not have approved them if that was the case.
At the office of CHI Ltd, the company’s Customer Relations Manager insisted that the stuffing in both Super bite and Beef Rolls produced by them were minced meat.
In fact, she said that at a time they had complaints from consumers who said that they were coming across difficult chewy parts of meat when they munched their beef rolls, adding that their recipes are a reflection of consumer demands and wants.
