Jemima Osunde food safety warning highlights concerns over adulterated food in Nigeria and renewed calls for stronger consumer protection
Nollywood actress Jemima Osunde raised a fresh food safety warning in Nigeria on Friday, September 4, 2026, questioning how consumers can completely protect themselves from adulterated or contaminated food products.
Osunde’s intervention came amid wider concerns about food safety in Nigeria, where consumers can face risks at different stages of the food chain, from production and processing to storage, transportation and sale.
“How is someone supposed to 100% avoid consuming these things?” Osunde asked in a social media post, expressing frustration over reports of food products allegedly being tampered with or contaminated.
The question has particular resonance for the actress because of her own experience with illness after eating food while working on a film production in Ibadan.
In January 2025, Osunde disclosed that she believed she contracted Helicobacter pylori, commonly known as H. pylori, after consuming food provided on a movie set.
She said the condition was followed by gastroesophageal reflux disease, or GERD, and that she had struggled with the effects for years.
“I got H. pylori from set food, and the aftermath of GERD has left me fighting for my life the last 3 years,” Osunde said at the time.
Her latest comments revive an issue that extends beyond the film industry.
A 2026 review of food safety practices in Nigerian food systems identified biological, chemical and physical hazards as major concerns and pointed to inadequate infrastructure, weak enforcement and unsafe practices, particularly within parts of the informal food sector.
Another 2026 systematic review examined 41 studies published between 2015 and 2025 and found microbial hazards accounted for 43.9 per cent of the reported contaminants, while heavy metals accounted for 26.8 per cent and pesticides 12.2 per cent.
The findings provide important context to Osunde’s concern, although her personal experience should not be taken as proof that every food product in Nigeria is unsafe or that a particular producer or supplier was responsible for her illness.
Nigeria does have regulatory systems intended to address these risks. The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, maintains a database through which consumers can verify registered food products.
NAFDAC’s 2025 Food Hygiene Regulations also require food businesses to comply with hygiene requirements covering preparation, processing, packaging, storage, transportation, distribution and handling. Violations can attract penalties, including fines and, in some circumstances, imprisonment.
The agency’s current strategic plan further identifies unwholesome food and other regulated products as an enforcement priority, with plans for inspections and surveillance operations across relevant facilities.
There are also signs of progress at the national level. In June 2026, the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare said Nigeria’s 2025 State Party Annual Report score placed the country at Level 3 and ahead of the World Health Organisation’s food safety target for low and middle-income countries and sub-Saharan Africa.
The ministry also highlighted the country’s national system for foodborne disease surveillance and response.
At the same time, the World Health Organisation continues to stress that food safety requires coordinated action involving governments, producers, regulators and consumers.
The organisation estimates that unsafe food causes illness in about 866 million people globally each year and contributes to 1.52 million deaths annually.
For Nigeria, the challenge is therefore not simply convincing consumers to be more careful. It also involves strengthening oversight throughout the food chain, improving traceability, enforcing hygiene standards and ensuring that unsafe products can be identified and removed quickly.
Osunde’s remarks have consequently struck a powerful chord with Nigerians who rely on food prepared outside the home or buy packaged and processed products without having the means to independently test their safety.
Her question remains a difficult one: how much responsibility can reasonably be placed on consumers when many food-safety risks occur before a product reaches the person who eventually eats it?
For now, the actress’s intervention has added a public and personal voice to a broader conversation about the need for safer food systems and stronger protection for Nigerian consumers.
