The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Food

  • Food, Drinks Festival holds in Ibadan

    Ibadan, Oyo State capital, will host the maiden edition of International Food and Drinks Festival this weekend, the organisers said yesterday.

    The event will hold at Ibadan Recreation Club, Adamasingba.

    The Project Coordinator, Clemence Eki, said credible and strong brands in the food and drink sectors were on board to delight everyone with their products.

    He said: “We are excited that respected brands, such as Unilever, makers of Knoor and Royco; Grandoak, manufacturers of Lord’s Gin and other exotic drinks are partners to the festival.

    “Brands, such as Indomie, Coca Cola, Lucozade Boost, Guinness and Union Bank from the financial sector, among others, have confirmed their participation to make this a fun-filled experience.”

  • Food, drinks fiesta holds March 30

    THE International Food and Drinks Festival will hold from March 30 to April 1 at the Ibadan Recreation Club, Adamasigba, Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.

    The Project Coordinator, Clemence Eki, said over 20,000 participants and big brands  are expected to attend the event.

    He said: “Specifically, we are putting this event together to further create value for big players and Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) in the food and drink subsector, by bringing them together under one roof of unlimited sales opportunities. More importantly, it is to create a very good ambience for fun-loving Nigerians, especially families to enjoy Easter, which stretches through the duration of the event.

    “The International Food and Drinks festival has been held all over the world to much acclaim. Ibadan, being a major city in Nigeria and with her pride of place in the nation’s history being hosts to the premier university, the first TV station, the first stadium, among others, presents us the obvious choice to host the Nigerian version. We guarantee three days of fun, great food and drinks, both local and continental.”

     

  • Expert warns against excessive intake of processed food

    A medical expert, Dr Femi Babatunde of the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH) warns that excessive consumption of processed food is detrimental to the people’s health.

    Babatunde gave the warning in Ilorin on Tuesday while speaking with our reporter in Lokoja on Tuesday.

    The expert, who said that processed food was dangerous to health, expressed concern that most Nigerians were ignorant of what they ate, adding they only cared for fast food to satisfy their appetite.

    According to him, most of the processed food contains ingredients that can endanger human health.

    “Many Nigerians are ignorantly over addicted to eating processed food which is the cause of increase in damage to their internal system.

    ”Only what people care for now is processed food, which is doing more harm than good to their body. People consuming processed food are killing themselves gradually.

    ”Laziness is promoting passion for processed food as many prefers to buy already made food than prepare it for personally,” he said.

    He enjoined Nigerians to eat more of vegetables, in order to be healthy and effectively carry out their day to day activities.

    Babatunde also said that food rich in fat should be avoided so as not to develop heart related diseases.

    He also urged the government and health experts to make it a duty to organise programmes that would promote sound and create awareness among the public on the imperative of ensuring healthy living.

  • Dangote targets self-sufficiency in food production

    Dangote targets self-sufficiency in food production

    Africa’s richest man Aliko Dangote has promised to make Nigeria self-sufficient in food production.

    He spoke in Lagos at the Awards for 77 customers of Dangote Foods, comprising of Dangote Flour Mills, Dangote Sugar Refinery and NASCON Allied Industries.

    At the award night held at the Expo Centre of Eko Hotel Victoria Island Lagos, 11 winners emerged from each of the geopolitical regions while the others were picked from the national category.

    A total of 23 distributors won awards from Dangote Sugar Refinery, 27 from Dangote Flour Mills and 27 from NASCON Allied Industries.

    Dangote said: We are firm believers in the vast economic potential of Nigeria. This has informed our desire to invest massively in some states across the country.

  • Scientists use microbes to convert human waste into space food

    Scientists use microbes to convert human waste into space food

    Scientists have found a potential food source for astronauts, using microbes to convert human waste into Marmite-like food, local media reported.

    This is contained in their study published in the quarterly scientific journal Life Sciences in Space Research by Professor of Geosciences, Christopher House and Director of the Penn State Astrobiology Research Centre.

    Read Also: Scientists: Puberty age now begins from 10-24

    According to British online newspaper, The Independent, researchers at Pennsylvania State University outlined a method to break down solid and liquid waste for producing protein and fat-rich substance from human waste.

    “We envisioned and tested the concept of simultaneously treating astronauts’ waste with microbes while producing a biomass that is edible either directly or indirectly, depending on safety concerns,” they said.

    “It’s a little strange, but the concept would be a little bit like Marmite or Vegemite, where you’re eating a smear of microbial goo,” the professor added.

    Food supply is a major hurdle when planning lengthy space flights.

    Recycling waste into nutritious food is one solution to this problem.

    According to House and his colleagues, the method involves anaerobic digestion, a process that refers to the breakdown of materials in the absence of oxygen.

    It is considered an efficient way of breaking down biodegradable matter.

    The researcher said while their method is not ready for application yet, it provides a new model for creating food on board spacecraft.

    “Imagine if someone were to fine-tune our system so that you could get 85 per cent of the carbon and nitrogen back from waste into protein without having to use hydroponics or artificial light,” said House.

    Xinhua/NAN

  • Food and water poisoning: Chemical poisoning

    There was a former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko who used to live in London, England. He went out to have tea sometimes ago with some, apparently, acquaintances. Somehow, he died soon after. He was killed by radioactive polonium-210, believed to have been administered in a cup of tea.  This is a very rare form of food and water poisoning.  In this article, I will touch on deliberate criminal act of food poisoning with such agents as radioactive materials or arsenic or via traditional  African concoctions against another person. For the moment, let’s focus on more widespread chemical food poisoning agents.

    Chemicals that Causes Food and Water Poisoning

    In the last few weeks, I got a message from my WhatsApp from a concerned individual who wanted to know if meat preserved with formalin (formaldehyde) is good for consumption. There is no doubt that formalin is a powerful preserving agent especially dead bodies and meat. While the chemical is a good agent and widely used in food industry, it’s also dangerous to our health. For me, I will not knowingly consume any food contaminated with formalin. It may cause cancer and other impairments of health.

    Taking a leaf from World Health Organisation (and credit to WHO): of most concern for health are naturally occurring toxins and environmental pollutants.

    Naturally occurring toxins include mycotoxins, maAs rine biotoxins, cyanogenic glycosides and toxins occurring in poisonous mushrooms. Staple foods like corn or cereals can contain high levels of mycotoxins, such as aflatoxin and ochratoxin, produced by mould on grain. A long-term exposure can affect the immune system and normal development, or cause cancer.

    In our own case, if you like to eat groundnuts and corn, ensure that you eat the ones that is fresh or had been well preserved. The ones that contain moulds are dangerous to our health. They are the ones that may poison us and lead to serious illnesses in short and long terms

    Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are compounds that accumulate in the environment and human body. Known examples are dioxins and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), which are unwanted by-products of industrial processes and waste incineration. They are found worldwide in the environment and accumulate in animal food chains. Dioxins are highly toxic and can cause reproductive and developmental problems, damage the immune system, interfere with hormones and cause cancer.

    What is of importance here is the chemicals that our farmers (plant and animal farmers) use to kill weeds and or preserve meat or treat plant and animal infections can also be harmful to us.

    Heavy metals such as lead, cadmium and mercury cause neurological and kidney damage. Contamination by heavy metal in food occurs mainly through pollution of air, water and soil.

    Deliberate Criminal and Accidental Food Poisoning: As a physician, I do come across various weird stories just as my other professional colleagues would.  Very often the story might be told of how someone went to a party or a housewife served the husband and the rest of the family some food and they all became ill or die. It might also be claimed that a rival wife killed a child or husband via food poisoning.  The sad thing is that the family of the victim will often be more concerned with alleged perpetrator that may be phantom than finding what the poison was and how to remedy it.

    Agents that are used in so called poisoning may actually fall into the class of what I have discussed in these articles or it may be any that will simply impair the health and wellbeing of the victim. Deliberate poisoning is a criminal offence. This is why suspected poisoning will require forensic analysis and criminal investigations.

    Sadly, our country is yet to have an accessible, functional and enduring poison centre that may coordinate and publish reports of food poisoning. We certainly need one.

    For now, what we can do as individuals and families is to take our personal hygiene seriously. Wash hands after toileting, dispose of feaces property. Cook food and meat thoroughly, wash fruits and vegetable well, minimise out-of home eating, avoid moulded foods, discard food that is going bad and drink boiled or clean water. Visit your doctor as soon as you or a member of your family falls ill. Vaccinate yourself or your family if possible.  Food poisoning causes serious illnesses and deaths. You can avoid them. When you are not eating alone on your own, be vigilant in respect of your food. Don’t leave your food to attend to something else. Finish your food and drink to avoid criminal poison. Do choose your friends and where you eat carefully.

  • Food and water poisoning: Hepatitis A and E

    Food and water poisoning: Hepatitis A and E

    Another set of very dangerous germs that often poison us through what we consume are hepatitis A and E. Both hepatitis A and E are viruses. Hepatitis means inflammation of the liver. Therefore, the primary area that hepatitis A and E will cause most damage is in the liver. Human beings have only one liver. A damaged person with severely damaged liver without replacement via liver transplant could be facing a terminal illness. Like most food and water poisoning that we had discussed, Hepatitis A and E have their roots in poor sanitation and food handlers with poor sanitary behaviour. Even if the consumers of the food maintain a perfect personal hygiene or if the consumer of the food are innocent children, so long as the food handlers somehow found a way to contaminate the food, then the consumer of the food will become ill.

    We discussed issue of incubation period before now. For hepatitis A, the incubation period is about four weeks before the illness begins to appear.

    Caution: Please note that the extremely common and deadly hepatitis B and C viruses are not transmitted via food and water. These are transmitted via sex and any form of blood transfusion (sharing of blades, needles, tooth brushes and actual clinical blood transfusion).

    Signs and symptoms of Hepatitis A

    In general, hepatitis A presents itself like all other hepatitis viral infection. Feeling of being tired and generally being unwell may be the first sets of symptoms. Of course, there are thousands of other illnesses such as malaria and typhoid that may also present in similar form. Joint and muscle pain may appear as well as if one was suffering from malaria. A high temperature (fever), loss of appetite, feeling or being sick (nausea) could mimic other diseases. However, pain in the upper-right part of your tummy (abdomen), yellowing of the skin and eyes (jaundice), dark urine and pale stools, itchy skin will help us to differentiate hepatitis from other illnesses that may cause confusion. There could be pain in the tummy too after the initial symptoms which I discussed above.

    The good news though is that most people will make a good progress and recovery. The symptoms can come and go for up to six months in some people.

    Likely complications: In a few people, the liver can stop working after a while. This is called liver failure. A disease called cirrhosis can develop which if not treated may lead to liver failure or liver cancer.

     

    Treatment of Hepatitis A

    Professionals will deal with clinical treatment but you can help yourself too. Avoid paracetamol medication, alcohol and vigorous exercise including sex. You should drink plenty of water. You need rest too and reduce daily activities for now. You may require some high glucose drink to provide energy for you.

     

    Prevention

    Fortunately, we do have vaccine for hepatitis A. So, if you need to protect yourself and your family from infection of hepatitis A, you should go for vaccination as soon as possible. Just for completion, hepatitis B also has vaccination. Hepatitis C does not.  You should be aware that, you could transmit the infection to others if you fail to adhere to the personal hygiene which I have earlier described. This includes hand washing after toileting, proper disposal of feaces and avoid food handling for now until the illness subsides

     

    Hepatitis E

    Hepatitis E occurs world-wide, but especially where sanitation may be poor (such as Asia, Africa and Central America). Just as in other food poisoning, the virus spreads by the consumption of sewage-contaminated food and water. The source of contamination is faeces shed from other infected people (or infected animals).

    The virus may also spread from animals to human beings through the consumption of undercooked or raw pig and game meat, processed pork and shellfish. Person to person transmission of the virus is very much rare, though the virus has been shown to have passed between people through blood transfusion and solid organ transplantation.

    Although the incubation period of the virus is about 15 to 60days, the symptoms and impact on human beings are similar to Hepatitis A. Usually the illness may resolve within 30 days. There is a risk of small complications similar to hepatitis A. However, pregnant women and people with low or suppressed immunity are at greater risk of complications from the virus.

    As at the time of this writing, there is no licensed vaccine for hepatitis E. Prevention of infection can be achieved by: cooking meat and meat products thoroughly, avoid eating raw or undercooked meat and shellfish, washing hands thoroughly before preparing, serving and eating food, boil all drinking water, including water for brushing teeth and avoid eating raw or undercooked meat and shellfish.

  • Cashew body demands more EPZs to boost food production

    The  National Cashew Association of Nigeria(NCAN) National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Sotonye Anga, has canvassed  increased spread of Export Processing Zones to replicate the impacts the initiative has had in states they have been situated.

    According to him, the EPZs have attracted so much in collective capital investments as tax holidays to make it more attractive to investors seeking to carry out high capital ventures.

    He explained that EPZ model was the softest landing for those coming to invest in the country because most of the processes are arranged and many other incentives exists.

    He encouraged creation of a favourable policy environment for innovation and enabling conditions for agric entrepreneurship, and a focus on building infrastructure, including roads, and electricity.

    He explained that a blend of efforts are needed to produce tangible economic result, including modern infrastructure development, seamless access to energy, market access for food products and increased foreign direct investment can play a catalytic role in fostering industrialisation.

    According to him, EPZs will help in creating demand for farmers produce, better remuneration, increasing level of processing and value addition, reducing wastage and creating opportunities and benefitting many farmers and youths.

    He stressed the need   for the development of an integrated logistics sector, adding that high logistics cost reduces the competitiveness of Nigerian goods, both in the domestic as well as the export market.

    According to him, the development of logistics would give a boost to both the domestic and the external demand, thereby encouraging manufacturing and job creation. This will, in turn, be instrumental in improving the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), he added.

     

  • Thought for food

    To round up this year, I started writing a series on end of the year motivation on facebook since Wednesday. I was motivated to do so as my little contribution to ensuring that as many Nigerians as possible maximise their potential for the overall development of the country.

    Two of the series are reproduced below.

     

    What did you achieve in 2017?

    One of the secrets of success is being able to ask yourself tough questions and answering them honestly.

    While reviewing a passing year, everyone needs to find time for a honest self-assessment of how well he or she made good use of the 365 days of 2017.

    This task will not be difficult if you had goals you set for yourself and know where you should be at this stage of your life.

    There is a saying that if you don’t know where you are going, everywhere you get to will look like your destination.

    We all have one life to live and every year must count in whatever we do.

    For one reason or the other, we may not be able to achieve all we set out to do in 2017 like in other years, but we must take proper stock.

    What did you or did not achieve? What worked and what did not? What higher targets do you have to set for yourself in 2018?

    How can you overcome the challenges of 2017?

    Learn to celebrate your achievements and admit your shortcomings.

     

    What do you want to be known for in 2018?

    A few years ago, I learnt a lesson on how to be focused and be known as an expert on what I know how to do.

    A young lady friend, Ronke Kosoko, @RonkeEmployment on Twitter got me thinking when she introduced herself as an Employment Solutions Strategist.

    I realised that it was not enough to say I am a journalist. There are thousands of journalists worldwide. I asked myself the tough question of what kind of journalist I am.

    What makes me special? What can I proudly claim to do better than many of my contemporaries? What specialty makes your name come up where crucial decisions are taken about who can do what excellently?

    My answer to the questions was that I am a Journalist and Media Career Development Specialist.

    Since then I have done my best to have what it takes to be what I say I am. I read and research widely about media career issues globally. I write about it on every possible platform and speak on how journalists can enhance their careers in every forum I get a chance to do so.

    2017 has been a very rewarding year for me as a Journalist and Media Career Development Specialist. Apart from my job as a Managing Editor, I have had so many opportunities to train and mentor journalists.

    As we prepare for 2018, decide what you really want to be known for and prepare to give it your full attention.

    Don’t let 2018 be another year when you will be Jack of all trades, Master of none.             You may be multi-talented, but being able to prioritise what you are best at will give you an edge.

  • Food and water poisoning: Cholera and other bacteria

    You may be forgiven to think that cholera no longer exists. In my teen years, cholera was a scourge in Nigeria so much that a very popular Juju musician ensured as part of his campaign to prevent the illness from spreading, sang an indelible memorial songs to cholera. Folks who lived through the 1970s and 1980’s will recall some of these songs.

    Cholera is a state of acute diarrhoea caused by a bacterium called Vibrio cholerae. Like all food and water poisoning, the disease of cholera develops from contamination of our food and water. About 140,000 people die of cholera yearly, world-wide.

    I had earlier explained last week’s, what is meant by incubation. In the case of cholera, the period is about 12 hours to five days. Few infection, if any, kills faster than cholera by reason that cholera drains the individual of water and nutrients within hours of its onset and death could set in speedily. Cholera kills faster than the deadly and fearful Ebola.  It affects both adult and children and like most illnesses, children are often most severely affected.

    What are the symptoms of cholera? It should be noted that not everyone who contracted the bacteria will progress to illness. Some may just feel ill in a mild way. In minority of cases, the symptom can be very severe and sudden: the principal symptom is watery diarrhoea— frequently going to move the bowel. Nothing stays in the gut. The songs which I mentioned above, made mention of frequent watery stools and bullet –like vomiting that shoots out of mouth. While vomiting may occur, the principal problem is diarrhoea.

    Treatment:  Thank goodness that cholera can easily be treated once recognised. The key is to rehydrate the sufferer. Therefore, everyone should be aware of and know how to prepare oral rehydration therapy (ORT). All nursing mothers should also take note of how to prepare ORT (or ORS). For cholera patients, the World Health Organisation/UNICEF ORS standard sachet is to have one sachet of ORS dissolved in one litre of clean water. The water could be boiled water that is allowed to cool down and the ORS poured in. Alternatively, ORS can be prepared by adding five cubes of sugar (five level of teaspoon) plus one level spoon of salt into one litre of water. Adult patients suffering from cholera may require up to 6 L of ORS to treat moderate dehydration on the first day.

    Other patients that are severely dehydrated will require intravenous fluid being given rapidly. For children, breast feeding should be continued and antibiotics be given to both adult and children.

    I cannot overemphasise the importance of accessing skilled medical treatment as soon as possible irrespective of ORS or not

    Prevention

    Again, as in the case of all food and water poisoning, prevention steps are very important in dealing with cholera and all forms of food poisoning.

    Cooked food that is stored anywhere, such as rice stored in the fridge, should be reheated thoroughly before eating. As in typhoid, clean your hands well after defeacating. Consuming only clean water and well-cooked food is the key to preventing cholera. Boil the water if necessary. Infected food handlers should be excluded from making or handling food until he or she is clinically cleared of the infection.

    However, like most things that is wrong with Nigeria, enforcement of basic rules and laws by designated responsible persons in private and public domains is clearly the weak point in any effort to deal with and reduce food poisoning illnesses.

    Vaccination: Cholera can be prevented by vaccination. There are three types of vaccines. All three require two doses for full protection.

    Other Bacteria Poisoning Our Food:

    In general, our food and water should not contain hostile bacteria, parasites and viruses. Any time we consume such germs, we will fall ill. Other bacteria that commonly affects our health through our food and water are E.coli and listeria. No matter the bacteria, the important thing we should be aware of is to maintain  personal food hygiene, wash and clean our vegetables, reheat cooked food that had been stored and avoid street-vendor foods. We should also take note that the mere fact that a food chain  on the high street, is popular does not give it a clean slate. We should exercise discretion in our food choices.