The Federal Ministries of Health and Agriculture are reportedly embarking on public awareness on food safety!

This is according to the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Audu Ogbeh, who pledged government’s readiness to take issues of food safety seriously.

According to him, there is need to begin to change the mindset of Nigerians especially when considering simple preparation of food.

He stressed that  Nigerians are unknowingly dying as a result of simple things like use of grinding machines for tomatoes, onions  and  pepper, stating  that these could expose them to life threatening diseases.

He explained that grinding machines are  potential source of metal poisoning in food, more so as they are made of raw steel. He noted that as the machines  grind, there is friction as  bits of metal wear into the ground tomatoes or beans eat.

Postulating that metal poisoning is quite deadly, he regretted  that less attention was being  paid to the implication of using metal grinding machine!

The minister who  urged users to go for stainless steel items for processing the perishable food items  asserted that that besides metal poisoning, rust from the materials made of iron  can affect the food.

He revealed that the government would produce the machines on a large scale possibly at subsidised rates reiterating that  “Nigerians are poisoning themselves using substandard machinery.

He said  these problems are serious challenges that must be dealt with especially as the country’s population is approaching 200 million in just a few years.