Nigerian consumers are at risk health hazards that could result from increasing circulation of fake sausages which are making real wave into the markets, further questioning the regulatory checks of National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), BusinessDay findings show.
A visit to different retail shops across Lagos State, particularly around Ikeja, Oshodi, Gbagada, Abule Egba and Victoria Island revealed that these sausages bearing no expiration dates, manufacturing or batch numbers contrary to NAFDAC’s regulation are being sold to innocent consumers, most of whom do not check for dates on products before consumption.
“The shelf life of sausages is very short and it is exposed to microbial contamination. Without expiry dates, there is no other way one can ascertain if the product is still safe for consumption. Eating expired ones could lead to food poisoning and many people have died as a result of that,” said George Nwaha, a Lagos-based pharmacist.
Doyin Odubanjo, public health expert said consuming these expired products could be deadly.
“Once a product is expired, what the makers are saying is that they can no longer guarantee the state of that product because whatever preservative method they used is no longer effective. This is very dangerous and could become poisonous. When someone consumes such product, he or she could become very sick and die,” Odubanjo said.
Specifically, ‘Gala’ and ‘Beefie’, two products of UAC Food Limited and Chi Limited respectively are the targets of the perpetrators considering their increasing demand in the consumer market, a development experts say should have been a source of concern to the manufacturers especially in routine market checking on their products.
One of the retailers angrily responded to our visit, saying, “What kind of question is that? I bought this sausage (name withheld) directly from their makers and people have been buying. What is my business with date or no date? If you don’t like it, then leave it. I’m not begging for customers”.
“People have been buying them. You know I bought these products and I have to finish selling my goods as well. If they don’t finish buying them, will I pack them to my children to consume?” another retailer in Victoria Island told BusinessDay.