A Lecturer at the University of Ilorin Professor Olayinka Ramota Karim has stressed the need for appropriate processing and handling of food production to guard against food related diseases in the country.
Professor Olayinka Ramota Karim of the department of Home Economic And Food Science, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Ilorin made the call at the 195th Inaugural lecture of the University with the theme “Good Foods Yesterday, Better Today, Best Tomorrow”
Professor Olayinka Ramota Karim who also stressed the need for structural transformation of traditional foods to make them better for today and best for tomorrow called on government food production policies to be accompanied with pragmatic food processing issues that are capable of adding value to agricultural food produce.
” More funds should be made available for bottom-top research that can address the traditional food processing technologies not only for the production of good foods but also for enhancement of the national development”
” I wish to recommend the establishment of Centre for Nigerian Traditional Foods Research and Development (CeNTFRD) to serve as an outlet for a holistic approach on value addition to the traditional foods. The Centre will also disseminate and demonstrate the research findings of the Universities and Institute periodically to the food processors for adoption.
” The new processing technologies and value addition methods should be developed to be as close as possible to the existing traditional ones that can easily be adopted and that will not undermine the cultural, social, religious and gender factors that are associated with traditional food processing technologies” she said
The Don also stressed the need for food processors to adopt proven technologies and innovation on traditional food system added that they should not perceive upgraded traditional technologies and value addition measures to traditional foods as foreign technologies or processes to replace the cultural heritage, they should rather embrace the technologies as opportunities to improve the production, nutrition, safety and overall quality of traditional food products as logical way for assurance of food and nutrition security in Nigeria.
She also stressed the need for large and international scale food industries to venture into production of Nigerian type of food.
The consumers are also enjoined to accept value added traditional foods and stop regarding them as food for the elite or superstore goods but foods that are of better nutritional, safety and organoleptic properties.
