A dangerous shortcut has crept into how some Nigerian traders preserve food. To stop weevils and spoilage, they spray staples such as beans, crayfish and stockfish with dichlorvos, the toxic insecticide widely sold under the brand name Sniper, a practice the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control has repeatedly condemned. The warning followed a viral video showing people using the chemical directly on food meant for human consumption, according to AgroNigeria.
Why It Is So Dangerous
The agency does not mince words about the risk. Its Director General, Professor Mojisola Adeyeye, has warned that consuming food contaminated with dichlorvos can cause dizziness, vomiting, difficulty breathing, tremors, convulsions, and in some cases coma and death, according to NAFDAC. Long-term exposure has been linked to developmental abnormalities in offspring, memory loss, reduced fertility and potential carcinogenic effects. Dichlorvos is an organophosphate that works by inhibiting an enzyme the nervous system depends on, and crucially, once it is applied the residues soak into the food, so washing does not remove the danger, according to Dateline Health Africa.
What Is Banned, What Is Allowed
Regulation has tightened over the years, though enforcement remains the challenge. The sale of the small 100ml pack of dichlorvos has been banned since 2019, while the one-litre size is restricted to certified agrochemical outlets, according to Tribune Online. The agency has also banned the importation and manufacture of the 100ml pack, prohibited the hawking of all agrochemical formulations, made the listing of agrochemical dealers mandatory and begun phasing out other hazardous pesticides such as paraquat and atrazine, according to NAFDAC. The Director of Veterinary Medicine and Applied Products, Dr Rametu Momodu, has stressed that approved fumigants exist for grain storage but must be used strictly according to label instructions and never applied directly to food, according to AgroNigeria.
How Shoppers Can Protect Themselves
Consumers are not powerless. The agency has advised the public to be suspicious of food that stays unspoiled for unusually long periods outside a refrigerator, since that can signal chemical contamination rather than freshness, and to avoid buying from vendors known to use such chemicals and report them, according to Pulse Nigeria. Safer alternatives, including bio-pesticides and proper cold storage, are increasingly promoted as replacements for the toxic shortcut.
The staples most often targeted, beans, crayfish and stockfish, are among the core items FoodPrices Nigeria tracks across Lagos markets, where the cheapest option on the shelf is not always the safest. FoodPrices Nigeria monitors verified retail prices and follows the food-safety issues that shape what ends up in the pot. This is a sensitive public-health topic, and anyone who suspects chemical contamination can report it to the nearest NAFDAC office.