Strategies to reduce pesticide residues in food: Remarks on pesticide food poisoning scenarios in Nigeria (1958-2018)

Abstract

Food insecurity across the globe, particularly in developing countries such as Nigeria, portends deleterious health challenges owing to various environmental contaminants, including the incursion of pesticides into the biosphere and the consequential retention of pesticide residues in food composition. This study provides a depth of insights into a comprehensive analysis on how the indiscriminate applications of pesticides have distorted both the terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, altered the food chain and occasioned the appalling incidence of food poisoning. Available data from 1958 to 2018 on pesticide food poisoning scenarios in Nigeria were collected, collated and critically evaluated. The findings of this analytical study, which is navigated through a thorough content and discourse analysis of reliable information, unveiled the various channels through which pesticide residues had penetrated into the food chain and its hazardous implications on the plants, animals and humans being at the receiving ebb of the food chain. In addressing this dilemma, the authors suggested a seam of inter-connected critical and strategic tactical approaches to reduce pesticide poisoning, which, if adopted by the Nigerian government and that of other developing countries, will effectively combat the pervasiveness of this threat to food security.