Organic versus Non-organic foods

Hello again, I’m bombarded with this question every day I shop for my customers, "Are your fruits and veggies organic?" I honestly cannot answer that question because our foods are not labelled in Nigeria and we have no traceability system in place.

I did some research to educate myself about organic and non-organic farming in Nigeria so that I could better serve my customers in identifying the foods before I buy and supply them but I was not able to get any verifiable information so I went online.

So much information on the internet I couldn’t possibly copy all here but I will try to summarize what I was able to understand.

The word "organic" refers to the way farmers grow and process  agricultural products, such as fruits, vegetables, grains, dairy products and meat. Organic farming practices are designed to encourage soil and water conservation and reduce pollution. Farmers who grow organic produce and meat don't use conventional methods to fertilize, control weeds or prevent livestock disease. For example, rather than using chemical weedkillers, organic farmers may conduct more sophisticated crop rotations and spread mulch or manure to keep weeds at bay.

When talking about animals, organically raised animals are those raised with organic feed and kept free from growth hormones and antibiotics, as well as oftentimes treated more humanely and given better areas to roam than their non-organic counterparts. E.g. Chickens, cows, pigs etc.

Some people choose organically grown foods over conventionally grown foods because they have little or no pesticide residue left on produce and they believe organically grown foods have higher levels of nutrients.

While many studies have stated organic food is not necessarily healthier than non-organic in terms of nutritional value, the concerns for those who purchase organic tend to focus on the pesticides that can be ingested along with their fruits and vegetables.

There are other studies that show organic produce boasted up to 40 percent higher levels of some nutrients (including vitamin C, zinc and iron) than its conventional counterparts.

Comparing these two methods of farming take a different dimension if we introduce Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) foods into the mix. GMOs is used to refer to crop plants created for human or animal consumption using the latest molecular biology techniques. They are plants that have been modified in the laboratory to enhance desired traits such as increased resistance to herbicides, pest resistance or improved nutritional content. This type of farming is mostly practiced in the United States of America and even though it has a lot of promises to help reduce world hunger and reduce cost of farming, European environmental organizations and International public interest groups have been actively protesting against GM foods and recent controversial studies about the effects of genetically-modified foods on our health and environment has been called to question.

To scare me further, I read in today’s Guardian newspaper that our government is seriously looking to import GM technology via U. S. into the country. I have read all the positives of GM farming but from what I can understand the disadvantages far outweigh the advantages. Other well enlightened societies are rejecting it so I don’t think we should submit ourselves to experiments; we have not yet gotten over the Pfizer saga that happened in the north of Nigeria a while back. Yes, if it will help increase our farm yields but I’m sure there are safer alternatives we can import. We have to be alive to eat.

In Nigeria of today, I cannot categorically tell my customers which farm produce is pure organic or not because we have no labeling standards and no one is checking. Every year our government distributes fertilizers to farmers and no one regulates usage of chemicals on the farms for plants and use of antibiotics etc for animals.Our eggs yolks keep getting whiter and our chickens softer and bigger, God help us. although studies abroad say there is no difference we need studies in Nigeria because I don't think we are using these chemicals right.

We have the weekly farmers market supposedly organic farmers all over the country but if the honey they sell can be adulterated what else can you expect.

So we are back to our original quest for food safety, without proper food safety standards that emphasizes labeling, traceability and regulates farm practice we cannot know the difference between organic and non-organic foods in the market place, we are left with whatever the farmer/sales person tells us that cannot be verified.

Fruits and Veggies - Local versus Imported spot the difference

Compliments of the season, trust you had a very happy Easter.

All the talk I had last week about comparing imported fruits and vegetables to those of Nigeria took me on a trip to Shoprite, Lagos.

I went there on Easter Monday to window shop as that is my favourite hobby and luckily I have two beautiful girls that also love to window shop so it wasn’t a difficult outing with kids although I had to say no a lot of times as they pointed to so many things in the shops. 

Anyway, on this day I took my time to compare the local fruits and veggies to that of the imported varieties, the fruits and veggies at Shoprite are products of Nigeria and those of South Africa and I must tell you the difference is 7up. LOL.

I turned this into an educative session with the kids and asked them to spot the difference which they had to tell me before checking the label. It was so easy for them as they were correct at every attempt after I showed them what I was looking for.

Although it turned out to be a fun thing to do, my kids were not happy that the foreign fruits and veggies looked better than ours. When they asked for an explanation I had to just tell them it was due to the weather and the quality of seeds our farmers were planting. Why can’t we change our seeds? asked the little one of 7, I said I don’t know if it’s as simple as that but I will find out and revert.

Let me take you through the aisles and paint a picture of what went on. We started at the tomatoes section, the foreign (South Africa) tomatoes were plum,  firm, large and will obviously keep in your refrigerator for a long time. They will also look good in your salads and fresh dishes. Compared to the local tomatoes, it was not as firm, it was watery and doesn’t look like it will keep for long. My main problem with local tomatoes (the one I usually buy in Lagos market not Shoprite) is that they are not well sorted and graded so we have too many waste. 

At the lemon section, the imported lemons were large, yellow and inviting compared to the local lemon that was not good looking at all. Irish potatoes and onions were also easily differentiated. Orange;, the difference in the oranges was just too much, we have the local oranges that are a combination of yellow/green/brown  versus the imported oranges that are orange, obviously orange.

At Shoprite all local and foreign fruits/veggies are put side by side and if not for the massive price difference no one will choose the local option over the foreign.

How can we salvage this without banning the imported option?, surely there must be a lot we can do to make our local fruits and veggies as attractive as their imported counterparts. How do you want an international franchised hotel/restaurant that is used to quality and fresh foreign fruits and veggies choose to use local alternatives that do not meet up. Apart from quality, the look and feel of the produce is also important for presentation purposes as we eat first with our eyes.

I tell you the difference in price is crazy, I know for sure the hotels want to use local produce for freshness, availability and lower price but the 3 – 5 star hotels would not compromise quality for price. If we want our Tourism sector to succeed we must look into the quality of the local produce.

We need to encourage our farmers, so buying local is the way to go but is that the best way to encourage them? How can we help them improve their standards, sort, grade and use quality seeds, improve farming practice so that their produce will sell themselves in the market place?

If my little kids looked at a market stall and consistently selected imported produce over local ones then we are in trouble. Before we drag everyone into farming let us help the existing farmers to be better, more organised, more profitable etc. if farming is standardized and made profitable, Nigerians will flood there by themselves as our people need jobs and money.

We need to standardize our farming operations for it will improve the quality of our produce, reduce our waste and increase our profit. If we do that, our produce can sit side by side foreign produce and compete favorably.

Next time you are in the supermarket go through the fruit/veggies aisle and share with us your observations. I will really like to hear from you.

Cheers.

p. s. We were not allowed to take pictures of the fruits/veggies so we can't post any here.

Handling Knives from A - J. Safety First!

Handling Knives 

Knives are one of the most common kitchen tools we use daily. We have so many types of knives e.g. the bread knife, steak knife, carving knife, boning knife etc. whichever knife you use in your kitchen, safety should always be the watch word.

 Here are a few tips to help you carve out your safety regime. 

(a) Always cut away from your body when using a knife. It can slip and cut you.

(b) Always use a cutting board

(c) Protect your counter tops

(d) Keep blades sharp

(e) Keep knives clean (including handle) – slippery handles can cause injuries

(f) Don’t put knives in a sink of soapy water – they may not be seen and accidents can occur

(g) Wash and dry carefully keeping sharp edge away from your hands

(h) Always lay them flat, never on the back or edge

(i) Don’t attempt to catch a knife as it falls – better it hits the floor than cut your hand

(j) Wash knives with warm soapy water after each use

12 Kitchen Safety Tips You Can Use Today

Food safety is more than just market, farm and agriculture.  Food safety has to do with everything food and our kitchen is where the action is in our homes.

Here are 12 tips you can use that will help you make sure you are food safety compliant. I will post more tips later but lets start with these to whet our appetite.

1. Keep dish towels, pot holders and napkins away from the stove. 
2. Keep matches and lighters in high places where curious little hands can’t reach them. 
3. If using candles in the kitchen, don’t leave the room (or home) while they’re burning. Make sure they are in a safe place and are in flame proof containers.
4. Never ever leave a kerosene stove unattended to or in an enclosed cooking area.
5. Make sure all wires, cords and plugs on your appliances are not frayed and that the plugs have 3-prong grounded connections. This would include coffee makers, toasters, blenders, microwaves, mixers, etc.
6. Get rid of any appliance that is broken or damaged. New ones are very inexpensive these days. 
7. Avoid wearing inappropriate clothing while cooking. That means loose sleeves, agbada, long sleeved bubas, long scarves etc. 
8. Check furniture, curtains, dish towels, etc. to be sure they are not blocking vents.
9. In case of a grease fire, salt and/or baking soda will help if you do not have a fire extinguisher.
10. Scalding is one of the most common injuries in the kitchen. Make sure to turn pot handles away from the front of the stove and away from little curious hands.
11. Scalding can occur from hot steam as well. Be careful when lifting lids from hot food (including opening that hot bag of microwave popcorn)
12. Clean up spills immediately – wet floors are slippery when wet.  

 Let's here from you, share with us other food safety kitchen tips you use at home.

Take care :)

Focus on improving local farm produce not banning imported alternatives

Like everything in Nigeria, in order to encourage local consumption we propose banning of imports. There are times when banning of imports of some items might be the answer but definitely not in this case of farm produce. At least not at this time. This banning thing is annoying me now........ let me calm down to explain.

The Lagos Economic Summit, Ehingbeti 2014, is going on now and one of the topics they are discussing is Agriculture. One of the presenters said that a bill is being sent to NASS that will force all Hotels and Restaurants in Nigeria to use only local farm produce.

Come on! really? I do not know how that came about and which research they are using to support this bill but me as a daily shopper of both local and foreign farm produce I do not support that bill at all.

Hotels and Restaurants would love to buy local, it is cheaper to buy local, that is if you can get quality farm produce. The questions is why don’t they? The answer is very simple, our farm produce are not up to  standard. Quality produce gives you quality food, simple..... *breathe*

The message I have been shouting about all this while.. ehn. Why should the Hotels lower their standards to accommodate mediocre and cheap practices in our farm and supply chain? We have no food standard and if we do, no one is enforcing them in the farms and market and the whole supply chain.

We keep giving the farmers fertilisers as if that is the only problem they have. How many of the farm lands are well irrigated to produce the highest quality yields. How many of the farmers have been trained on the quality of yields and how to better grow their crops. Who checks the quantity of fertiliser used and how it is used. What is the ratio of extension workers to farmers? How are these farm produce transported to the markets and which conditions are they presented in the market place? Many State Governments are still distributing hoes and cutlass as a democracy dividend... come on people! in 2014?

I buy fresh produce everyday at the office and I can tell you half of it is always rotten. The market is stinking, as in stiiiinking! The market is difficult to navigate and we cannot trace the source of what we are buying. It is what they tell us that we accept. The baskets are not durable, if you not careful when carrying it the contents will pour out. The way the traders display their "Fresh Farm Produce" in the market will irritate you. Adulteration is prevalent everywhere, Palm Oil, Flour, Crayfish name it. Abuja Yam is the in thing now so everyone claim they sell Abuja Yam, far from the truth. No traceability so what choice do you have?

Why o, why would we force hotels and restaurants to buy local produce if the quality available is low. They have an international franchise agreement and they have to follow that agreement. Our focus should be helping the farmers to improve their yield. We should focus on identifying the problems in the supply chain from farm to fork and sorting them out. Focus on why they are not buying local and provide the support needed to help local farmers and vendors meet up.

So many, too many programs focusing on increasing farmers, introducing youth to farming etc. I have no problems with youth farming, my problem is this; present farmers are suffering because half of their produce go to waste, because of low yield, because they have no storage facilities, lack of efficient distribution channels, inefficient irrigation system and so on. The fishermen are terrified of pirates and no storage facility for their fish, no modern tools to fish. The Abattoirs need major over hauling; I don't know why I have not changed to a Vegetarian after my visits there. Horrible scene. We are lucky we overcook and fry our meat, if we eat raw like other countries we would be dead ages ago.

Agriculture is more than farming, farming is just a little aspect of that. We cannot stress that enough. The earlier we get that the better for this sector.

Here are a few sectors I would like the authorities to look into, we need more people in these areas.

AgroMarketing, Management, Storage, Processing, Packaging, Research & Development, Quality control & Assurance, Bulk Packaging, Sorting & Grading, Land Preparation, Equipment lease and Sales, Pest& Weed Control, Health Inspectors, Post Harvest Handling, Irrigation Engineering, Transportation, Retailing, Extension Workers, Vet Doctors, Regulators, Fund Operators, Pension Planners, Farm Waste and recycling experts, Food safety & Nutrition professionals, Toxicology experts, Food engineering, Biotechnology, Policy advocates, Animal Husbandry, Aquatic Educationist, Marine Technologist for the Fishing Industry etc.

I can go on and on, but these are the main actors in the horticultural supply chain besides farmers. All these actors support the farmers and work behind the scenes. Without these actors all the money and noise we are making about agriculture would amount to nothing.

We need to build structures for farmers to survive and we need these structures to make farming profitable. We don’t have to ban imports of fresh farm produce, like we are banning import of fish (Help the local fishermen and provide them safety in our waters, provide modern fishing tools and storage equipments, give them all they need to compete not ban fish imports ), the countries that have got it right are the countries that have all the professions I listed above and more, with government policies and action to support them.

When they say agriculture is a huge employer of labour, this is what they meant and not just back breaking work under the sun. Developed countries have also moved on to mechanized farming and it is far beyond back breaking work under the sun. 

Enough of this banning business, we need to raise our standards to meet up not make companies drop their own standards to accommodate us. If we do that we will help the sector far more, we will create a lot of jobs and due to this other countries will want our farm produce and other products; which will in turn increase our exports. If all countries ban imports, how will export sector thrive, think about that.

Ok i'm not angry any more, I just had to pour all this out. :) Smiles *deep breath* ..... Please let me read your views, thank you...