The State Government of Osun has called on caterers and food vendors in the state to stop the dangerous act of using paracetamol to tenderise meat and also the use of ‘hypo’, a bleaching detergent for cassava processing to induce ‘whiteness of fufu and gari.’
The warning was issued in Osogbo during a joint press conference addressed by the Special Adviser on Public Health, Pharmacist Siji Olamiju and the Commissioner for Information and Civic Orientation, Mrs. Funke Egbemode, on the harmful effect of the illicit
acts on vital organs of the body such as the liver, kidneys, heart and the small intestines.
The Special Adviser to the Governor on Public Health disclosed that
the dangerous trend in public health was recently uncovered by the
state public health surveillance volunteers who were assigned to visit
primary health centres across the state.
While describing the act as criminal and one borne of deadly ignorance, Pharmacist
Olamiju admonished the perpetrators to desist as it portends great danger to the health of the consumers in the state.
The Public Health Special Adviser alerted that ‘hypo’, which is a bleaching agent meant
for laundry ought not to even get in contact with the skin least of all the alimentary
system.
In a similar development, the Commissioner for Information and Civic
Orientation, Mrs. Funke Egbemode disclosed that the decision to embark
on a state –wide awareness campaign and public sensitization exercise
on the issue was aimed educating caterers and cassava processors and averting
possible adverse health implications of the illicit acts which had
been on over the years.
The Commissioner further revealed that the Governor’s mandate to
embark on the awareness campaign was sequel to the worrisome report of
the sharp practices which was given at the first state executive
council meeting in the new year.
Mrs Funke Egbemode explained that discovery has shown that
paracetamol; a pain relieving medication is being used as tenderiser to
boil meat and meat and to process tough cowleg in order to cut cost and to
reduce the cooking time. She also lamented the usage of ‘hypo’
detergent to process cassava without minding its harmful health
implications on vital organs of the body which, she identified, can
cause slow instalmental death.
