00:03Damaged and moldy vegetables are being sold in some Nigerian markets and they may be silently
00:09damaging poor people's health. Earlier in May, medical experts and the Lagos State Consumer
00:15Protection Agency, La Scopa, advised its residents not to consume spoiled tomatoes,
00:21citing serious health risks. Experts say eating moldy produce is a serious cause for concern.
00:28When people ingest or consume foods that have been exposed and are rotten, so one of the things you
00:36notice is that they are prone to having, you know, gastroenteritis, food poisoning and many other
00:42things. And you see that many of them come down, go to the hospital as a matter of emergency and
00:47some
00:47even present very late and then they sadly are unable to make it.
00:53I am at one of the biggest food markets in Lagos and much of the produce here comes from farms
00:59in
00:59northern Nigeria. But because of bad roads, trucks can spend days in transit and by the time they
01:06arrive, some of the goods could have been damaged or spoiled. There are even names for them. Esha,
01:13which means damaged, and baje, which is spoiled vegetables. But some are using produce, which is
01:20worse than spoiled.
01:23Wait till you are using it.
01:31This video shows a woman caught trying to blend rotten tomatoes that had maggots at a public vegetable
01:38grinding shop, a place patronized by Nigerians who don't have their own food processor. It went viral
01:45online, causing widespread outrage. Inflation is biting in Nigeria. It is forcing many people,
01:52including some food vendors, to buy and cook spoiled vegetables. They cost just a fraction of the prices of
01:59fresh ones.
02:00Opayemi Oluwatobi has been walking around the market for hours, looking for esha tomatoes and chili peppers to
02:07buy. But even the damaged produce is too expensive for her.
02:13I don't have enough money to buy fresh tomatoes. And the prices of the damaged ones are too high.
02:19I cannot afford them. Rotten vegetables are not good for people to eat. But I don't have money. And fresh
02:25ones are very expensive. So we must manage somehow. May God not let it affect us.
02:34For traders like Haruna, who sell only esha tomatoes, it's not just a business strategy. They believe
02:41they are meeting people's crucial needs.
02:45Some people will walk by, see this, and will not buy because they don't want it. They see it as
02:52what
02:52should be dumped. But those that are poor will come, price it, and buy it, because that's what
02:57they can afford.
02:58That they can afford it.
02:59It is a similar picture for people struggling to make ends meet in Abuja, the country's capital.
03:05Just like Lagos, living here is super expensive, so low-income earners are forced to adjust their
03:12spending. At this market, damaged veggies are openly sold with no one checking the quality of the goods.
03:19Ramatu, a widow and mother of four, sells and eats spoiled onions. Like her, many poor Nigerians
03:26believe they are safe from illness, even if they are eating damaged produce.
03:32Disease doesn't kill Africans. If someone is rich, they won't buy rotten onions. They will look for
03:38fresh ones. It can't cause any hazard for poor people. Diseases don't affect them. If they eat anything,
03:45it won't cause a health risk.
03:51I choose to buy spoiled pepper because it's cheap. The moment you wash it, it's clean, so you can then
03:58grind it. We do this because of the cost of living crisis. In the past, when we were young, people
04:05used
04:05to throw produce like this away. But life has changed. No one will throw it away now. You have to
04:11wash it and use it.
04:19If I sell these rotten onions, I at least get a fraction of my expenses back instead of taking a
04:25loss.
04:25But to be sincere, I wouldn't eat this at home.
04:31Nigeria's National Bureau of Statistics says 63% of Nigerians are multidimensionally poor.
04:37Access to safe food is just one aspect of that.
04:41A recent UN report shows that more than 190 million Nigerians could not afford a healthy diet in 2025.
04:49A global report on food crisis also indicates that the country is set to experience one of the
04:54highest increases in food insecurity worldwide this year. And with food inflation rates rising to 20%
05:03recently, millions of Nigerians continue to face food pressure, which means they have to adopt
05:09harmful coping strategies to survive. There are certain toxins that are produced by certain
05:15microorganisms like, for instance, with aspergillus, that is the fungi. It's a particular fungus.
05:20When it creates certain aflatoxins, those aflatoxins are very, very heat resistant. So no matter how much
05:27you hit them, they will still remain. Consistent consumption of this type of aflatoxins can put
05:33people at risk of liver damage and in the end, in some cases, cancer.
05:36DEW made several requests for answers from the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection
05:42Commission FCCPC on how they are ensuring food safety in the country. But we did not get any response.
05:50As Nigerians wait for stronger food regulations and enforcement,
05:54those who buy spoiled vegetables can only hope it won't affect their health.
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