The State Government of Osun has called on caterers and food vendors in the state to stop the dangerous act of using paracetamol to tenderize meat and also the use of ‘hypo’ a bleaching detergent for cassava processing to induce ‘whiteness of fufu and gaari.’
The warning was issued in Osogbo during a joint press conference, addressed by the Special Adviser on Public Health, Pharmacist Siji Olamiju and the state 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 at 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 tenderizer to boil meat and meat and to process tough cow-leg 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.
