Worried by increasing incidents of metal poisoning in the country, the federal government has advocated the use of stainless steel grinding machines.
The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, speaking at a public presentation of the machine prototype in Abuja recently, said the new innovation will replace the conventional metal grinding machines mostly used by commercial millers.
He said the move became imperative to solve problems associated with food poisoning, especially milling of cast irons with pepper, beans among others.
Ogbeh said: “Today I wanted the minister of health and minister of women affairs to be here but the purpose of inviting you is to inform the public on the health concerns we have now.
“This ministry supposed to produce food for Nigerians and food ought to be something that strengthen the body but it can also be a poison.
“We are worried about what they call metal poison. It is a very serious matter about what we eat and we know that many of the things we grind in the market such as pepper, tomatoes, onions using the grinders we have in the market now are very serious sources of danger to national health.”
According to him, many of the machines are of raw metals, thus they ware slowly into the food.
He added that once ingested, the raw metals attack important organs in the body.
“That’s why you find a lot of people with kidney, liver failure and so on and nobody really knows what is causing all these,” the minister added.
He emphasised on need to develop modern technologies that could help process foods without endangering health of the people.
Speaking on use of cellophanes for food packaging as well as pure water bags placed in the sun, the minister called for change of attitude.
He said many young Nigerians are faced with liver and kidney problems without identifying source of the problem.
Managing Director, Niji Lukas Nigeria Limited, Kola Adeniji said he designed the machine to solve the problems associated with food milling.
Adeniji said by partnering with the Federal Government and local fabricators, the stainless milling machine could be produced en masse and made affordable for benefit of the masses.
