Adulterated staples and weak enforcement have forced every Nigerian to become their own food inspectors.
With the influx of adulterated food and drinks in Nigerian markets, many have now turned to social media to detect fake products.
Social media has become the de facto regulator. Facebook, TikTok, WhatsApp and Instagram accounts with hundreds of thousands of followers post videos on how to identify adulterated palm oil, honey and pesticide-treated beans.
Funke Adedayo holds up two bottles of palm oil. One is deep red, thick and smells smoky. The other is brighter and lighter for inspection.
‘I learned from Instagram how to detect adulterated palm oil,’ she said. ‘If you put it in water and the colour separates, it is adulterated,’ she noted.
She said that traders will not allow such tests in the market, so buyers have adapted. ‘If it stains your hand too red, don’t buy it,’ she warned.
The shift from reliance on regulators to self-help is driven by gaps in Nigeria’s food safety management system.
The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control focuses on packaged foods and drugs. The Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security said it has no department with such an oversight function for Nigeria’s over 200 million people.
That leaves staples like beans, tomatoes, palm oil and honey largely unchecked.
Abidemi Adegoroye, another trader shopping at Mile 12, said she belongs to a WhatsApp group where videos of food adulteration are shared.
‘I make sure I boil my beans for 10 minutes and sieve the water first,’ she said. ‘This is to remove the chemical they use in preserving the beans.’
She said skipping the step has consequences. ‘Anytime I fail to do so, I have constipation or heartburn.’
Traders commonly preserve beans with dichlorvos, sold locally as Sniper. The pesticide is intended for fumigation, not direct application to food, and residues above maximum limits have been linked to health risks.
Timothy Chukwu, a secondary school teacher, said becoming his own inspector is now a matter of necessity.
‘Government has failed in ensuring safe and wholesome foods for its citizens,’ he said.
For honey, he uses a water test. ‘Authentic honey sinks and doesn’t dissolve quickly,’ he noted. ‘Adulterated honey with sugar syrup dissolves immediately.’
Funmi Adeyinka, an auditor with a financial institution in Ikeja, said she no longer allows Suya (smoked beef) vendors to add ground pepper to her purchase.
‘I usually grind my own dried pepper myself,’ she said. ‘I only collect my suya with onions and add my pepper when I get home.’
‘Most of the pepper used by vendors is mixed with dye to make it redder,’ she added.
The dyes are part of a wider pattern. Traders add a banned industrial dye to palm oil to deepen its colour. Calcium carbide is used to force ripening of fruits, while artificial sweeteners and burnt sugar are used to stretch honey.
BusinessDay found that middle-class families in Lagos are responding by bypassing the market entirely.
Many now drive directly to farms in Ogun and Oyo states on weekends, forming cooperatives to buy directly.
‘We drive to nearby farming communities in Ogun and Oyo states to make purchases,’ Tolulope Timilehin said, noting that produce bought from such markets is not adulterated.
The cooperatives pay a premium but guarantee traceability. Members visit farms, monitor pesticide application and harvest produce themselves.
For experts, self-detection is a symptom, not a solution. ‘Nigerians becoming food inspectors doesn’t fix the fact that we have a food safety issue in the country,’ said AfricanFarmer Mogaji, CEO of Agbado Limited.
Joseph Akinneye, professor of biology at the Federal University of Technology, Akure, said, ‘When pesticides are used beyond the maximum limits on food products, it becomes dangerous to human health.’
‘Farmers and traders often use these chemicals at high levels, and accumulation causes cancer, difficulty in breathing, and hormonal imbalance.’
Akinneye said limited knowledge is fuelling increased use and calls for education on dosage and regulation of maximum residue limits. He also wants stronger enforcement of banned pesticides and routine testing of produce in major markets.
Until enforcement extends to open markets, shoppers like Adedayo will keep testing food themselves.
‘I can’t wait for NAFDAC,’ she said, sealing her bottle. ‘I have to protect my children and myself.’