Nigerians have been warned to desist from consuming imported frozen meat which could be dangerous to human health.
The warning came from a Professor of Animal Nutrition and Products Enhancement, Gbenga Onibi of the Federal University of Technology, FUTA, Akure while delivering the University’s 86th Inaugural lecture on Tuesday, at the University auditorium.
Professor Onibi who titled his lecture “Meatiness Plus Quality of Our Meat: Gateway to ancestral blessing” said “considering the place of meat in human nutrition, Nigerian government should ensure the sustenance of the present ban on importation of frozen meat into the country.”
He said from research findings through samplings and experiments, the quality of imported meats is questionable and they are laden with various preservatives that could be dangerous to human health.
He also called for proper legislation against the display of fresh and frozen meat on unrefrigerated counters in the markets, in order to safeguard the health of the populace.
“Machinery to ensure proper enforcement of any meat hygiene legislation should be put in place. Since electricity supply for cold storage is epileptic, meat merchants should be made to use insulated containers containing ice blocks or flakes to keep the temperature of retailed meat low thereby reducing the rate of lipid oxidation” he added.
Onibi, a first class graduate of FUTA with higher degrees from Aberdeen gave a statistics of human population and protein intake of selected countries in the world and concluded that Africans need more meat on the plate.
According to him while most of the world’s less developed countries are faced with the problem of inadequate supply of meat and other high quality protein foods, people in developed nations are concerned with improvement in the quality of their foods like meat.
He emphasized the need to improve on the nutrition of animals to improve on the production of meat. “The production of meat depends on how well the animal grows and the growth and development of meat animals depend on many factors, amongst which nutrition is major. Feeding intensively reared monogastric animals is very challenging as feed costs account for between 60% to 80% of the cost of production”.
Onibi who decried the sanitary situations of most slaughter slabs said production of meat under unhygienic conditions, like slaughtering and evisceration of filthy surfaces; use of slaughter effluent to wash carcasses and transportation of meat under unhygienic condition should be discouraged.
Vice Chancellor of the university, Professor Adebiyi Daramola, represented by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, (Academic), Professor Olatunde Arayela described Professor Onibi as a scholar who has excelled in delivering his core academic responsibilities, having taught several courses, supervised undergraduate and postgraduate students, and attended so many national and international conferences and workshops and presented papers at some of them in addition to his local responsibilities at FUTA.
He also described him as a young and dynamic academic and an asset to the University.