Tough Times: Area stores overwhelmed with hazardous charcoal powder, toxic color enhancers

In Nigeria's local markets, unscrupulous spice merchants are taking advantage of the food inflation to heavily adulterate daily kitchen staples, such as egusi, pepper, and turmeric powder, with additives that are dangerous to health.

Some of these staples, including ground pepper, are being mixed with rejected plant husks and finely milled wood charcoal to replicate authenticity and artificially inflate product volumes for maximum profit, according to Economy&Lifestyle.

The trend, which has emerged in recent times, is attributed to economic hardship and low purchasing power, forcing traders to use dangerous, non-food additives to mask low-grade produce and deceive shoppers.

At grinding points in some markets, merchants have been observed gathering cheap, low-quality, or rejected components, including rotten chilli seeds, fibrous plant straws, and starch powder, as base materials to ground food staples.

An anonymous apprentice revealed that traders introduce dangerous additives, such as industrial powdered colouring and chemicals like Sudan IV red dye, to colour up the mixture and create an appealing visual appearance of freshness and potency.

The apprentice explained that wood charcoal is used as a structural filler, blending effortlessly into dry spice matrices, but turning the mixture into an unnatural, dark shade, which is then corrected with artificial colouring.

Public health officials have raised alarms over the severe long-term dangers of these everyday foods, but market vendors, such as Mr. Musa Fiditi, claim that high operational costs leave them with few choices.

Mr. Fiditi stated that consumers are also seeking cheaper food items, leading some traders to blend pure pepper with charcoal dust, chaff, and dye powder to meet demand and survive.

Consumers, like Mrs. Chidiebere Njoku, a pharmacist, feel heavily cheated and worried about their health, noticing that adulterated pepper leaves an unnatural red stain on fingers and tastes like ash.

Mrs. Njoku has invested in a blender to monitor what she and her family consume, while Mrs. Nimot Bello, a bulk spice seller, has started processing her spices and grinded pepper herself after discovering charcoal mixed with chilli pepper seed.

Dr. Elizabeth Badmus, a Laboratory Scientist, warned that industrial dyes and charcoal are contaminated with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and heavy metals, accumulating inside the liver and kidneys and causing long-term destruction.

Dr. Badmus advised shoppers to test their spices by dropping a small spoonful of powdered pepper into a glass of clean water, noting that pure pepper powder floats briefly or leaves clean, natural particles, while adulterated versions sink immediately.