International Journal of Research and Scientific Innovation (IJRSI) | Volume VII, Issue V, May 2020 | ISSN 2321–2705

Food Hygiene and Safety Management in Nigeria

Okechukwu K. Iro^*1, Ugo U. Enebeli², Gabriel U. P. Iloh³, Young Azuama³, Agwu N. Amadi^{1, 3}, Chinasa O. Amadi³, Cosmas Ezejindu¹, Joseph Ingwu⁴, Stella E. Ogamba^1
1Department of Public Health, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Abia State University, Uturu, Nigeria
²Department of Community Medicine, College of Medicine, Rhema University, Aba, Nigeria
³Department of Public Health, Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria
¹Department of Public Health, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Abia State University, Uturu, Nigeria
⁴Department of Environmental Health Sciences, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Abia State University, Uturu, Nigeria
*Corresponding author

Abstract – Current food production processes from farm to fork are bedevilled by food safety hazards and risks which result to frequent foodborne disease outbreaks locally, nationally and internationally. Food hygiene and safety management systems are put in place to insure that food that gets to the consumer is safe. The objective of this paper is to review the current food hygiene and safety management (FHSM) in Nigeria. The concept of food hygiene represents the ways and means of controlling hazards in food in order to ensure that the food is fit for human consumption and that it is prepared according to the intended use, while food safety management guarantees the harmlessness of food and the absence of adverse effects for the consumers. FHSM start from primary production in the farm, through manufacturing processes, to distribution of the food up to the consumers’ table. Credible FHSM can only take place within robust international and national regulatory systems. Education on and development of internationally regulated hazard prevention and control systems such as hazard analysis and critical points (HACCP) and ISO 22000 will strengthen FHSM in Nigeria. It is recommended here that Nigeria should develop and enforce HACCP and ISO 22000 for the achievement of FHSM.

Keywords – Hygiene; hazards; consumption; regulatory; prevention; enforce.

I. INTRODUCTION

Globally 600 million people are estimated to have post-consumption food-related illnesses; and among these, 420,000 die annually giving rise to loss of 33 million healthy life years (DALYs) with the cost of illness that is associated with illness in Nigeria estimated at US$3.6 billion per annum (WHO, 2017; Ezirigwe, 2018). These events were caused by inadequate or faulty food hygiene and safety management. Food handlers in the food chain often have inadequate knowledge of food safety standard operations checklists, and their practices reflect these deficiencies (Iro et al., 2017; Azuama et al., 2018; Amadi et al., 2018; Chukuezi, 2010); as well as in the poor bacteriological qualities of the food produced by the food handlers (Onyeneho & Hedberg, 2013; Ifeadike et al., 2014; Azuama et al., 2018; Iro et al., 2019).