High mortality rates, poverty, and malnutrition are among the country’s most pressing socioeconomic challenges. However, to avoid health problems, it is normally recommended to minimize fat and sugar consumption, improve nutrition and diet, quit smoking, and so on. However, food is about health and healthy living, but in a world where innovation is now common in agribusiness and farming, with genetically engineered crops and food, there is less discussion about the need to promote organic food consumption.

Genetically engineered foods are those generated by genetically modified species whose DNA has been altered by genetic engineering. Genetic modification is basically altering the DNA of crops and foodstuffs with genes from other plants or animals to achieve certain goals. Scientists take a gene or seed for a desired characteristic (color, flavor, texture, early maturation, increased yield, and higher output) from one plant or animal and implant it into a cell of another plant or animal to generate the specified and desired outcomes.

Some of the advantages of this agricultural invention include improved taste, shelf life, nutrition, and quality; enhanced profit for growers; virus and insect resistance; herbicide tolerance; and increased food yield to combat famine. Furthermore, the primary advantage of this trend is that it allows for numerous food productions; however, many fish or chickens can mature more quickly as a result of this innovation, with the intention of cutting prices and using fewer natural resources. The big question is, who regulates this procedure in Nigeria? This should be cause for concern. I’ve seen first-generation items like oranges without seeds, corn with a shorter harvesting period, plastic-looking tomatoes, bananas, and plantains that look like toys, poultry ready for food in three months, and a slew of others, owing to commercialisation. The primary goal is to increase the profitability of the enterprises involved in better food production.

Given the economic downturn, reduced disposable income, and many people’s inability to buy food, enhanced food production through genetic modification of foods may become commonplace. But are there any quality checks or controls on all of these genetically modified foods that are widely available in the market? Who, if anyone, is monitoring the health implications?

A brief poll to evaluate customers’ attitudes on genetically modified foods revealed that many were unfamiliar of the concept in agriculture or farming. In fact, nearly 90% of those polled had no notion what the term entailed. Though the concept has the potential to make food available commercially and increase yield compared to traditional breeding, the most critical aspect is quality control and the necessity to confirm it is fit for eating before commercial production begins. Because, like all new technology, these foods may carry some dangers, both known and unknown.

In a society where many people reject moral and ethical norms, it is expected that research institutions, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, the Consumer Protection Council, and other sister agencies regulate, control, and set standards for genetically modified foods. Although there is no indication of negative or hazardous impacts from the usage of genetically modified foods in the country, no one can predict all of the repercussions. Currently, public awareness is low, and farmers, food retailers, restaurants, and caterers rarely educate customers or consumers about the foods, crops, or ingredients they deal with, or whether or not they include genetically modified organisms, because no law requires them to.

Despite the fact that genetically modified foods are produced by interfering with nature, the entrepreneurs, businesses, and farmers involved maintain that these foods are safe and have no ill effects. In contrast, in my perspective, genetically modified foods constitute a substantial technological and commercial breakthrough in agribusiness; thus, to a high degree, abundant harvests and profitability may just be the key drive, so there is a need to regulate.

So, effective restrictions and the necessity for genetically modified food legislation in the country are imperative. I’m just concerned, as I believe many others should be, about the safety of the food we eat and the health consequences, because the majority of people are poor, and what is affordable may not be appropriate for consumption. Nonetheless, because genetically modified foods have largely entered our food basket through imports or cultivation of genetically modified food crops, it is still appropriate for the country’s apex food regulators to conduct safety assessments because this is critical in eliminating fear, uncertainty, and doubt (often abbreviated to FUD) in consumers and citizens moving forward.

Finally, the government and authorities must establish a framework for regulating both domestically produced and imported genetically modified food products. Because Australia, Brazil, the European Union, and other countries control genetically modified foods, Nigeria must do the same without exception.