Due to the importance of fish and meat in every home, hardly does a day go by without either of the two being served as part of meals in many homes in the country. However, many Nigerians could be eating fish or meat that is deleterious to their health without any knowledge of this.
WHETHER it is bought at the open market or from a store, the quality before purchase and after it is prepared for consumption is essential to building the body and maintaining good health. Little wonder Mrs Halima Adenuga was concerned about a news report that alerted Nigerian to the dangers of eating some frozen foods.
The Federal Department of Fisheries (FDF), under the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, destroyed about 95.86 metric tonnes of rotten fish with the market value of N37 million in the premises of Premium Foods Limited and Bexolac Seafoods Limited in Lagos early this year.
Several times, individuals have expressed concern on the quality of meat and fish available for sale in many markets. This is not exempting frozen chicken and turkey, most of which are imported, that many see as an alternative to beef.
Daily Tribune learnt that most of the frozen chicken and turkey imported into the country were not good for consumption due to the chemicals used in preserving them, while most of them spent days in transit, thus making them to lose their nutritional value.
While speaking with Daily Tribune, Mr Elijah Tomori, revealed that his hatred for frozen chickens arose from the dangerous chemicals used for their preservation. The chemicals, such as formalin, he disclosed, were carcinogenic.
“I have my reservations for consuming frozen chicken sold in many outlets, because they are preserved with formalin. This is why I stopped my wife from buying or cooking it at home.”
According to a fish seller at Bodija market in Ibadan, Alhaja Hadijat Aduke, some of the fish she and other fish sellers bought from different cold rooms in Ibadan metropolis are unfit for consumption, adding that they often reject and return such fish to the cold rooms.
“You would notice a change in their colour, while some of them would give off offensive odour. Even when you cut some with knife, you would notice that that they have expired and not good for consumption,” she said.
A veterinarian at the University of Ibadan, Dr Olayinka Ishola, confirmed that many of the fish or meat sold in markets across the country was actually unfit for consumption. According to him, the knowledge of this has made him to stop buying fish from open markets.
“What I observe these days is that there seems to be a higher concentration of formalin in fish and frozen chicken sold in the market. This chemical is used to preserve fish or frozen chicken and turkey.
“If I open my freezer for you, you would think I have stored cadavers. It usually smells of formalin; it is possible that higher concentrations of formalin are added, because importers of fish or cold room owners cannot guarantee constant electricity supply,” said Dr Ishola.
The veterinary doctor questioned the suitability of formalin as a preservative agent for fish, saying its effect on human health was grave.
“The concentration of formalin they are adding is getting higher, but formalin has its health implications, because consuming it indirectly is like we are killing ourselves subtly. Formalin is used on dead tissues and we are taking it in gradually. It can eventually cause ulcer because it will be eroding the lining of the intestines,” he explained.
Identifying wholesome fish
When asked what could make fish wholesome and fit for consumption, Dr Olufemi Adedeji, a senior lecturer in the Department of Veterinary Public Health and Preventive Medicine, University of Ibadan, said certain qualities had to be looked out for before determining whether the fish is good or bad.
“To identify fresh fish, the body must be shining and glistering. Its eyes must not be glistening or sunken. When the covering of the gills is lifted, the gills would be shiny and reddish. If it is already turning brownish, it means the fish is stale. The body of a fresh fish is slimy, but if it is not properly stored, it would turn greenish.
“Of course, when the fish is fresh and fit for consumption, its body, on touch, would be smooth. A sandy feel at touch tells that the fish is stale and not properly preserved. Also, it is expected that the fish will not have foul odour and that its scales would not have started to peel off on its own,” he added.
Dr Adedeji who said fish hygiene was very important for it to retain its wholeness, disclosed that oftentimes, most outlets that sold frozen fish did not store and preserve them appropriately.
“The erratic electricity supply is a big problem and because most cold rooms are run by generators, this has increased the overhead cost of this business. And so they try to cut corners by not maintaining the cold chain.
“A cold room temperature should be below -20 degrees centigrade for the stored fish to maintain its quality. With every increase in the temperature of the cold room, there is an increase in the spoilage organisms.
“Spoilage could take place from outside or within the fish. Its intestines contain some of these organisms that will also increase the risk of spoilage. If the appropriate temperature is not maintained, there is no assurance of their quality because of the proliferation of spoilage organisms,” Dr Adedeji added.
According to him, though poor stored fish and sea food is inimical to health, since they could cause many health problems, including food poisoning, Dr Adedeji noted that the option of preserving fish with formalin was bad.
“Formalin will destroy all the micro-organisms, but it is like embalmment and by the time you consume food items preserved with formalin, this, over time, could trigger some pathway that can lead to cancer. Formalin is carcinogenic; as such its use should be discouraged,” he stated.
The don urged government to monitor and control the activities of operators in fish industry, especially cold rooms operators, saying, “Samples need to be collected at random and analysed for whatever chemicals they may contain.”
He warned that this was important, because studies had shown that many imported sea foods, including shrimps, lobsters and fish were always contaminated with antibiotics in the process of preserving them.
“The screening of many sea foods in Ibadan found that they contain a lot of antibiotic residues and normally antibiotics are not supposed to be in them. They contained between 60 and 70 per cent broad spectrum antibiotics, which could have been added also as preservatives.
“The danger in this is that over time, its consumption contributes to antibiotic resistance. For humans, this is dangerous because when the need for the use of these antibiotics arises, they will not be effective.”
Buying live fishWhen asked whether live fish could serve as an alternative to the consumption of dead ones, the don said this also had its own challenge.
“In most fish ponds, whenever there is an outbreak of disease and a veterinarian commences treatment, some sellers after some days, because of the fear of loss, would crop the fish and push them into the market for sale. Those unable to do this, if they have icing facility, do so and sell it as iced fish.”
Poor implementation of meat/fish laws in Nigeria
According to the Head of Department, Veterinary Public Health and Preventive Medicine, University of Ibadan,Professor Gabriel Ogundipe, issues relating to meat and fish hygiene are caused by poor enforcement of fish and meat laws in the country.
“For instance, ensuring that meat is fit for consumption starts from the slaughter slab till it gets to the table. The meat industry is not modernised; more than 95 per cent of our butchers are not educated and so it is difficult for them to adapt to new ways of abattoir maintenance – the way of preparing meat for consumers in a healthy way. So, the quality of meat coming to the market is already poor,” he stressed.
Professor Ogundipe linked the sales of diseased cow lungs and other portions of cow with tuberculosis by meat sellers to their low knowledge on meat hygiene and safety.
“Whether it is the slaughter of a sick cow or sales of diseased organs that they are asked not to sell, they cannot appreciate it. To convince you that there is no disease, they would even cut a portion of a lung infected with tuberculosis and eat it. They then ask if they had died.
“If you tell them not to sell such a diseased organ, they would not agree, because they are not convinced that it is dangerous. They are also looking at it from the economic point of view. They have invested money in buying the animal; some even borrowed the money with the hope of making profit.”
Another veterinarian, Dr Idowu Cadmus, also described the habit of selling leftover meat, which is stored in the freezer, as bad because the meat had started to deteriorate in its freshness and quality.
Dr Cadmus said that individuals should consider fish/meat colour and texture before purchasing them, “essentially, when you see a bad meat, such may be greenish or blackish in colour; it is not light brownish in colour as normal meat. Also, it should not have any offensive odour and its tissue will be firm and not flabby on touch.”
He said consuming leftover meat was dangerous, because it could lead to food poisoning and diarrhea, since it would have had plenty of microorganisms growing on it.
