Dangerous spices: How melted nylon additive keeps plantain chips crunchy

By Elizabeth Adegbesan For some years, plantain chip has been one of Nigeria’s ultimate snacks which is affordable, accessible, and portable. But as inflation hovers at historic highs, a sinister economic survival tactic has crept into the informal food sector. Economy&Lifestyle discovered that to cut costs and keep chips crispy for days, some street entrepreneurs are turning to a dangerous additive: melted cellophane bags. The cost of a crunch The mathematics of running a small-scale food business in Nigeria today is brutal. The price of vegetable oil, cooking gas, and raw plantains has tripled over the last two years. For vendors like Halima Mohammed, who operates a roadside frying station, the pressure to maintain profit margins without raising prices is suffocating. “If I increase the price of a small pack from N200 to N400, the students will walk away. “People don’t have money.

So, vendors look for shortcuts to make the oil last longer and keep the chips from getting soggy in humidity. ” The “shortcut” involves tossing polyethylene plastic bags directly into the scalding oil. As the plastic melts, it blends with the vegetable oil, creating a glazing agent. When the plantain slices are fried in this mixture, they form a glassy, ultra-crisp outer shell. Crucially for vendors, the plastic coating prevents the chips from absorbing moisture, extending their shelf life from two days to over two weeks. A lifestyle of hustle and denial In the underbelly of Nigeria’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, the practice is an open secret, driven by sheer desperation. The lifestyle of a micro-entrepreneur in Nigeria is defined by any-way-raw-iron—a slang term for survival by any means necessary. With no safety nets and a failing grid that forces reliance on expensive petrol generators,…