Ipalipo Banigo, chairman of the senate committee on health, on Wednesday presented the report of the joint committees on health and agricultural production services and rural development on the motion seeking to stop the chemical ripening of fruits in the country.
Anthony Ani, senator representing Ebonyi south, sponsored the motion on May 28.
Banigo said the committee held an investigative hearing on July 17 to gather the views of stakeholders and members of the public, noting that memoranda were collated and legal drafting experts consulted during the investigation.
“The committee found a rise in the fraudulent and dangerous forced ripening of fruits with raw calcium carbide,” the lawmaker said.
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“The committee also uncovered other harmful food handling practices, including cooking meat with paracetamol, preserving grains with sniper (dichlorvos), washing fruits and vegetables with detergents, soaking cassava in detergent solutions, and adding banned Sudan IV dyes to palm oil and red pepper.”
She added that the burning of tyres to remove animal hides for consumption was also discovered as a common practice, noting that morpholine, used as a waxing agent for fruits and vegetables, is banned in the European Union (EU).
According to the lawmaker, the report linked the practices to severe public health risks, including cancer, kidney and liver diseases, and foodborne illnesses such as cholera and Lassa fever.
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She said the committee recommended that the federal ministry of agriculture and food security, the Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Services, the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), and the Nigerian Council of Food Science and Technology intensify public sensitisation campaigns on the dangers associated with chemical ripening of fruits.
Banigo said the committee also urged the senate to amend existing laws to prescribe stiffer punishments for those found guilty of using harmful chemicals to ripen fruits.
The committee further called for stricter enforcement of food safety regulations by relevant agencies.
Babangida Hussaini, senator representing Jigawa north-west, said the commodities and produce inspectorate department of the federal ministry of trade and investments should be included among enforcement agencies, noting that it already plays a role in ensuring hygiene in the handling of agricultural produce.
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Senate President Godswill Akpabio commended the committee for its work.
Akpabio said the senate’s legislative compliance committee would follow up on the implementation of the recommendations.
