Chief Audu Ogbeh, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development gave this advice during his presentation to the joint Senate and House of Representatives Committee on Agriculture in defence of his ministry’s budget for 2017.
According to Ogbeh, the rising cases of terminal ailments are based on the metal elements deposited in foods by grinding with these machines.
He said, “We are also looking at the grinding machines in markets and stores. Metal poisoning is increasing in the diets. There is a report by Federal Institute of Industrial Research (on this). We are going to introduce stainless steel processing machines for the grinding of grains, tomatoes and onions. Some of the strange diseases of the liver and the kidney you see today in hospitals have to do with the way we process our foods.”
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Also, the minister disclosed that the Federal Government was about to impose tax on imported tomato pastes, stating that 80 per cent of the imported tomato paste was dangerous to health.
He said, “Only yesterday, we passed a regulation that we are going to tax imported tomato pastes because the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control gave us a report that 80 per cent of the pastes and purees coming in is unfit for human consumption. The ingredients put in these pastes coming in are actually harmful to health.