Many people are “eating themselves to the grave” as aflatoxins, pesticide residues, poor storage, and unsafe handling move from farms to markets and eventually onto household plates.Food once meant to nourish and sustain households is now, in many homes, increasingly linked to sickness, chronic illness, and even death. The Food Rights Alliance and partner organizations warn that unsafe food has become a silent public health crisis, with contaminated meals sending an estimated 1.3 million Ugandans to hospitals every year.Agnes Kirabo, the Executive Director of the Food Rights Alliance, said many people are “eating themselves to the grave” as aflatoxins, pesticide residues, poor storage, and unsafe handling move from farms to markets and eventually onto household plates.The warning comes as Uganda marks World Food Safety Day 2026 under the theme “From Burdens to Solutions: Food Safety Everywhere.” Food safety advocates say foodborne diseases account for about 14 percent of illnesses treated nationally. They further report that contaminated fresh produce alone causes more than 60 percent of foodborne cases, while about 30 percent of diseases in Uganda are linked to unsafe food. Kirabo added that the burden is heaviest among children, pregnant and breastfeeding women, older persons, and people with weakened immunity.She noted that unsafe food drives illness, malnutrition, loss of household income, rising medical costs, and reduced productivity, describing the situation as a national food crisis that requires urgent government action. “A right to food is meaningless when the food available to families can make them sick. Every food consumer has the right to food that is available, affordable, nutritious, and safe. Government, businesses, and other food-system actors must be held accountable for protecting that right from the farm to the mouth,” Kirabo said.The groups say contamination cuts across common foods consumed daily. Maize, groundnuts, millet, cassava, vegetables, milk, eggs, poultry, and meat all carry risks depending on production and handling conditions. Aflatoxin exposure remains one of the most dangerous threats. It contaminates staple crops such as maize and groundnuts and can also enter animal products through contaminated feed.Health experts link aflatoxins to liver damage and cancer, with an estimated 3,700 liver cancer cases annually in Uganda. Economic losses run into hundreds of millions of dollars each year. Pesticide misuse adds another layer of danger. National data shows tens of thousands of poisoning cases recorded in recent years, with some resulting in death. Export losses also occur when food fails to meet safety standards in international markets.Antibiotic misuse in livestock production has raised further concern, with residues detected in poultry and growing fears of antimicrobial resistance among health professionals. “Everyone is a potential victim of unsafe food,” Kirabo said. “Consumers cannot see, smell, or taste many chemical residues or toxins. Strong regulation, testing, and enforcement remain essential.”Betty Rose Aguti, Policy and Advocacy Analyst at Caritas Uganda, said contamination begins early in the food chain. She pointed to poor farming practices, overuse of chemicals, weak regulation, unsafe transport systems, and poor storage as key drivers of risk before food reaches markets. She said farmers often operate in isolation with limited support and guidance, a gap she said undermines food safety efforts from the start. She called for stronger engagement between authorities and farmers to address the problem at the source.Aguti also raised concern over the use of plastics in food preparation and packaging, saying the practice has spread across street food vending and household cooking. She urged the government to move faster on banning single-use plastics, warning of growing contamination risks in everyday meals.In urban markets, she said, exposure continues through open food handling, dust, contaminated water, and lack of refrigeration. She noted that many modern market designs include cold rooms, but several remain non-functional or unused, raising questions about their effectiveness in maintaining food safety standards.Meanwhile, in a joint statement, food safety advocates, including more than eight partner organizations, said Uganda has several laws and institutions in place, but enforcement remains weak due to fragmentation and poor coordination. They noted that the Food and Drugs Act, now more than 60 years old, no longer reflects current food production systems, chemical use patterns, and the expansion of informal markets.While the government has introduced measures such as restrictions on some highly hazardous agrochemicals and the promotion of aflatoxin control tools like Aflasafe, the groups said implementation remains limited. The advocates also called for a faster review of key regulatory frameworks, including regulations under the Agricultural Chemicals Control law, and the expedited establishment of a Food and Agriculture Regulatory Authority.They further urged the Ministry of Agriculture to speed up the review of the Organic Agriculture Policy and maintain agroecology as a core pillar of sustainable agriculture.-URNThe post How Meals Have Turned into Health Hazards, Early Graves for Ugandans appeared first on Business Focus.