Professor Moji Adeyeye, the Director General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), has advised Nigerians against keeping cooked food in the refrigerator for over three days.
She cautioned that such food is prone to contamination by pathogens that cause foodborne diseases, which can be fatal.
Adeyeye’s statement, released on Tuesday and signed by the agency’s Resident Media Consultant, Sayo Akintola, coincides with the 2024 World Food Safety Day.
The event, themed ‘Food Safety: Prepare for the Unexpected’, called on food supply chain stakeholders to foster a culture of food safety to prevent hazards and risks that can compromise food safety.
World Food Safety Day, observed annually on June 7, was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 2018 to promote awareness and action to prevent, detect, and manage public health risks associated with unsafe food.
The DG “urged Nigerians to refrain from storing cooked food in the refrigerator for more than three days, warning that cooked food stored in the refrigerator for days is susceptible to contamination by disease-causing pathogens, key agents of foodborne diseases that can lead to death.”
Adeyeye stressed that food safety is crucial for public health, economic development, and food security. She stated that ensuring food safety is a shared responsibility, requiring producers’ and consumers’ cooperation.
According to her, the campaign aims to promote global food safety awareness and strengthen efforts to prevent, detect, and manage foodborne risks worldwide by emphasising the importance of being prepared for food safety incidents.
Let us all stay true to the statements ‘food safety is everyone’s business’ and ‘food safety is a shared responsibility’ as we celebrate this year’s World Food Safety Day. Working together, we will continue to strengthen our food safety system, ensuring its resilience, robustness, and preparedness for the unexpected,” she said.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has estimated that 600 million people—nearly one in 10 globally—fall ill after consuming contaminated food, with 420,000 fatalities annually, leading to the loss of 33 million healthy life years.
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