BEWARE! CPC Warns Of Contaminated Beans In The Market (pics)

Those thinking that the viral warning about killer beans in circulation is another hoax targeted at making people panic unnecessarily must read this.

The Consumer Protection Council have made their findings and have advised consumers to beware of contaminated beans currently being sold in some market.

It called on consumers to properly wash their beans before consumption as well as make sufficient enquiries before engaging in new purchases.
The Council gave the advice in a statement released by its Director-General, Mr Babatunde Irukera. The warning came on the heels of a video that had gone viral where some people were seeing using sniper to preserve beans.

The Council said in addition to the cooking method and making enough enquiries before purchase, consumers should sufficiently wash their food items before cooking.
The statement said “Thoroughly washing food items before consumption or preparation for consumption is a generally accepted method of protecting and promoting safety.
“The CPC has recently confirmed by credible information that retailers, mostly in the open market, are using a pesticide, 2,2-dichlorovinyl dimethyl phosphate compound, otherwise marketed and known as ‘Sniper’, to preserve beans and more particularly to eliminate or protect from weevils.”

Irukera, in the statement, pointed out that sniper, by its chemical composition and nature, was potentially injurious when human beings were unduly exposed by inhalation, absorption, direct skin contact or ingestion.
“The risk of injury on account of the consumption of beans exposed to or treated with Sniper is also existential, even though, an unintended consequence,” it added.
Last year, three siblings trading in beans on Adenekan Street, Alagbado, Lagos State, were arrested by the police for allegedly selling “poisonous beans” to members of the public.

It was learnt that the traders – Faith Ogbona, Chidioke Ogbona and Sunday Ogbona – were arrested by policemen from the Alagbado division after being alerted by a woman, who caught Chidioke applying Sniper, an insecticide, on the bean

While Chidioke and Sunday were picked up on Friday, their elder brother, who owned the shop, was nabbed on Sunday when he went to the station to secure their bail.
Although the shop owner confessed that his suppliers in Maiduguri, Borno State, where he bought the goods, used some chemicals including Sniper and DD Force, to preserve beans, he said his brother carried out the act without his consent.
He said: “I have never mixed beans with chemicals, but I have been buying the one with chemicals from Maiduguri. If it is stored for a long time, it is not dangerous for human consumption.”
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