The Health Implications Of Commercial Grinding Machines

By Roberta Edu

We're slowly reducing our own population and blaming others. Imagine the extent of harm the locally fabricated grinding machines do to our population:

Here's the story of a concerned Nigerian:

When I started Moppet Foods  years ago, one of our Moppet cereal variants, Moppet Nutmeal, contained peanut. Now, when I was using a blender to blend, I could add the peanut together with everything and just roll.

But as we scaled, the blender was no longer enough. We acquired a grinder to handle larger volumes, but it couldn’t blend peanuts along with the grains, a major challenge.

I consulted an expert we had hired at the time, and he recommended a locally fabricated grinder specifically for peanuts. I reached out to local machine fabricators, and they delivered a clean, custom-built unit.

We tested it. It worked. The peanuts were ground smoothly. We mixed them into the cereal base and moved forward. But when we sent the product to the lab for routine testing, the results were shocking: Moppet Nutmeal showed dangerously high levels of metals, specifically iron filings. We were shocked. What had gone wrong?

We ran multiple tests. Only the peanut variant showed contamination. So we broke the process down and tested each ingredient individually. That’s when we discovered the truth: the contamination came from the peanut, but only when it was ground using the local machine. I switched back to blending peanuts with a standard kitchen blender, and the contamination disappeared. That was the moment we made a tough but necessary decision, we discarded the local grinder, despite having invested over ₦400,000 in its fabrication that time.

Later, I learned that NAFDAC does not approve this type of grinder for manufacturers. And for good reason.

But here’s the disturbing part: these same machines are everywhere. In markets across Lagos and beyond, they’re used daily to grind tomatoes, egusi, pepper, pap, beans, everything. Restaurants use them. Street vendors rely on them. Families depend on them. Every single day, millions of Nigerians consume food processed through these machines, unknowingly ingesting iron filings and heavy metals.

The health risks are severe: heavy metal exposure is linked to kidney and liver damage, heart disease, neurological disorders, and even cancer. Children and pregnant women are especially vulnerable. And yet, while regulators prohibit manufacturers from using these machines, there is no such restriction for public use.

The woman grinding tomatoes on the street serves more people daily than many factories. Yet she is left unregulated, unprotected, and uninformed.

I just remember this, because I visited the factory of local peanut butter mallam use to sell, it is grinded with this local machine, I am working on getting the one I visited a stainless steel grinder.

I just thought to drop this here to raise awareness for this. Keep your family safe, no one is wealthy enough for organ related type of sickness.

*Edu is a commentator on public issues