Sehai Food Ltd., an integrated honey production company, has urged Nigerians to always consume pure organic honey produced in the country because of its health benefits.

Mr Segun Thomas, the Business Development and Sales Lead for the company, made the call in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Abuja.

He said that apart from promoting healthy living, the consumption of pure organic honey could also facilitate the prevention of all kinds of diseases.

Thomas said that consumption of the pure organic honey had different health benefits such as prevention of cancer, heart disease and increase in athletic performance as well as healing of cough and throat irritation.

He said that honey could also be used to manage sleep disorder (insomnia), heal wounds and burns, while boosting sexual performance, improving and rejuvenating skill cells.

According to him, the other uses of honey include the reduction of ulcers and the management of gastrointestinal disorders.

Thomas, nonetheless, noted that some Nigerians were fond of importing honey from South Africa, China and the U.S., adding that such imports might be adulterated honey which could be dangerous to human health, as some of the honey were mere sugar syrup extracts.

“Some producers of this fake honey also use flavoured corn syrup and unfortunately, most Nigerians don’t know how to determine what good honey should be.

“There is a tendency for some Nigerians to start comparing locally produced honey with the foreign variants, which are apparently not of the same standard, due to their craze for foreign goods.

“However, the local honey producers need to improve on their production levels and strategies so as to meet the growing demand for honey; they should also improve on their product packaging,’’ he said.

Thomas said that the business of honey production still remained largely unexploited and unstructured in the country.

“All the same, I believe there is currently a lot of potential in the bee-keeping business in Nigeria, which has yet to be fully exploited.

“I feel that it is high time the Federal Government intervened; the government can promote the funding of the bee keeping business by providing loans with low or no interest rate for operators so that they could expand the business.

“Apart from that, the Federal Government can also provide training so as to build the capacity of the bee keepers.

“Nigeria should not have any business importing honey; we should be producing enough honey in Nigeria for domestic consumption,’’ he added.

Thomas said that Nigeria’s organic honey was 100 per cent natural and pure, adding if well packaged, it could compete with any international honey product.

“Our honey here has been certified by SON and NAFDAC for its uniqueness and genuineness.

“We are careful, we do not pasteurise our honey by heating it because if you subject honey to heating, you consequently denature the honey.

“We only filter our honey, using ultrafine mesh to remove all impurities and wax from the honey to make it 100-per-cent pure,’’ he added. (NAN)

– Oct. 3, 2018 @ 12:42 GMT |