Pounded Yam: Tourists And Travellers Beware Of The Dangers Inherent In Its Consumption!

Pounded Yam: Tourists and Travellers Beware!

    Yams being pounded in mortar with crevices

What is bad in eating pounded yam?   

    The consumption of pounded yam may not be bad, if not for the enormous bacteria and fungi load/count that are churned along with it, from the mortar and pestle used in preparing it, as well as the presence of contaminants or normal flora that are glued to the leaves used in wrapping it.

Microbiological Elaborations

   The wooden mortar and pestle used in pounding the already cooked yam are habitats of microorganisms and their spores e.g. bacteria and fungi, which make the cracks and crevices present on the mortar and pestle, their habitats. 

A typical mortar with cracks and crevices.

      Before and after the mortar and pestle are used, they are usually washed and kept in storage. But the presence of the cracks and crevices on the wooden mortar and pestle, make the washing ineffective in preventing contaminants ( fungi and bacteria and their spores) from contaminating the subsequent or previous pounded-yams that were prepared in them.

    A very tragic illustration.

    An instance for the corroboration of this microbiological elaboration is this tragic incident which my lecturer Dr(Mrs.)Stella Adeyemo, in the department of Microbiology, Obafemi Awolowo University Nigeria, related to me while studying Microbiology at the institution, which led to the death of a man who was dear to (his) family, whose death was pinned on an unfortunate woman who prepared (pounded) the yam which the man ate that caused his death.

How did it come about?

    The dear man to his family died from a poisoned pounded-yam. A pounded-yam not poisoned by any human being, but by the mortar used to pound the yam! The mortar had grown poisonous mushrooms or fungi in its cracks or crevices which poisoned the yam that was pounded in it.

    This can't be the first of this incident, but it should be the last and should not be allowed to continue!

   Lesson for travellers, tourist, and everyone.

   There is a lesson in this incident and its microbiological elaboration for tourists, travellers, and everyone. 

Let's read on.

      The man that died as a result of eating poisoned pounded-yam may not be the only person that ate the poisoned pounded-yam, but he was the only person that died. Why?

    It was so because the people that ate the poisoned pounded-yam along with him had been exposed to toxin(poison) from the fungi growing in the cracks and crevices of the mortar overtime (they have been eating pounded-yam prepared in the mortar for a long time and their body systems had reacted and got over it(their body system had developed immunity to the toxin), but the man came over or travelled from his former habitat/ abode to a new habitat where his body system (immunity) is very new to, and had not adjusted to, like those of whom he ate the poisoned pounded-yam with.

     As it happened, he got exposed to the full dose of what his body system had not acclamatized to, nor developed immunity against, and this warranted his death! He died from a mortar poisoned pounded yam, while others survived!

     Whenever you are traveling to or touring new places, endeavour not to eat food that are traditionally prepared ( i.e. unsterilized foods( like pounded-yam) well or stream water, handmade foods. The locals are used to or have developed immunity against the contaminants e.g. bacteria, fungi, viruses and their toxins present in their local foods, but you have not developed any immunity against them, neither had your body systems acclamatized to them! You are new to this food contaminants, and they may lead to very dangerous immune responses (allergic reactions) that can be very deleterious to your health or lead to your death!

     Beware!

P.S. If you find this article educative and informative, you can endeavour to help share it to other people who will be in need of it. This endeavour of yours will go a long way in breaking the vicious cycle of diseases in our society and contribute alot to improving Public Health.