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Claim: X user @OurFavOnlineDoc claims that eating Garri, Fufu, Ogi, Eba, Bread, Yoghurt, and Cheese amounts to taking alcohol because they are produced through fermentation.
Verdict: False. While trace amounts of ethanol can result from fermentation, the levels are extremely low, and usually evaporate or convert to other compounds during cooking or processing, and do not amount to “taking alcohol” as the claimant suggests.
Full Text
Fermented staple foods like garri, fufu, ogi, bread, yoghurt, and cheese are everyday parts of Nigerian diets, valued for their taste, texture, and cultural significance. These foods are made from local crops such as cassava, maize, wheat, and sorghum, while Nigerian cheese, known as Wara, is primarily made from cow’s milk. Fermentation enhances flavour, digestibility, and nutrient availability.
Beyond taste, these foods help preserve tradition and improve gut health while reducing antinutritional factors. This makes them not just staple meals but also an important, healthy, and culturally treasured part of daily life.
On May 30, 2025, an X user, OurFavOnlineDoc (@OurFavOnlineDoc), posted a claim that sparked heated debate online. He asserted that some of Nigeria’s most popular staple foods contain alcohol because they are made through fermentation.
The post reads, “If you eat Garri, Fufu, Ogi, Eba, Bread, Yoghurt, and Cheese, THEY ALL CONTAIN ALCOHOL. These foods are all made from fermentation. That means they have alcohol in them through how they are made. So you are taking alcohol. Ignorance is the reason you didn’t know.”
As of July 28, 2025, the post had attracted around 2,700 reactions, 702 reposts, and 342 comments.
While some users expressed genuine concern about the possibility of unknowingly consuming alcohol, others were quick to question, joke about, or outright dismiss the claim.
An X user, Emerald Paul (@Emeraldpaul_), asked plainly, “How is garri an alcohol? Please educate me.”
Ismail Automates (@IsmailAutomates) says, “I think this is the reason I start feeling sleepy after taking Ogi.”
Adding humour, MC Mayor (@MYWAtotheworld) wrote, “No wonder a dey quick to sleep after eating at night. Me sef dey wonder sey Abi Na me put sleeping dose inside this food.”
Taking the discussion further, Kelechi Nwosu (@SirKelechiNwosu) noted, “Cake also. Those who claim ‘I’ve never taken alcohol’ but eat cake don’t know the amount of brandy that goes into cake making!”
DUBAWA decided to investigate this claim due to the confusion and debate it sparked, as well as its significance for Nigerians’ public health.
Verification
Researchers report that staple foods like garri, fufu, ogi, bread, yoghurt, and cheese, though produced through fermentation, have only minimal ethanol content. Fermentation is a natural process where microorganisms break down sugars into by-products such as organic acids, gases, and sometimes ethanol. Still, the final alcohol levels depend on the type of fermentation and processing.
Studies show that garri and fufu mainly undergo lactic acid fermentation, producing mostly lactic acid. Although tiny amounts of ethanol can form, roasting garri and boiling fufu remove most of it, leaving negligible levels that are too low to cause intoxication.
Bread dough ferments with yeast, producing ethanol and carbon dioxide. Yet baking at high temperatures evaporates over 95 per cent of the ethanol, with tests showing final levels typically below 0.3 per cent, which is not enough to classify bread as alcoholic.
In yoghurt and cheese, lactic acid bacteria drive fermentation that mainly produces lactic acid, and any ethanol formed remains at trace levels.
Overall, findings confirm these foods remain non-alcoholic and safe for regular consumption despite the fermentation process.
So while these foods might technically contain trace ethanol at some point, the final edible products usually have low ethanol levels and no physiological effect.
Insights from the experts
Olajumoke Abioye, a research dietitian at H3Africa, Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital Complex, Ile-Ife, Southwest Nigeria, explained that fermentation in foods like garri, fufu, yoghurt, and cheese can produce ethanol, but usually only in trace amounts too low to cause concern.
“Fermentation can produce ethanol, but typically only in trace amounts that are not enough to be of concern for most people,” she noted.
She added that most of it evaporates during heat-based steps like roasting garri, boiling fufu, or baking bread, since ethanol boils at about 78.5°C.
Olajumoke further clarified that the leftover ethanol is generally below 0.5 per cent, levels considered safe even for children, pregnant women, or people avoiding alcohol for religious reasons.
“For both religious and health reasons, it is safe to say we can consume fermented foods,” she said.
She also highlighted health benefits, noting that such foods provide probiotics and live bacteria that support digestion, reduce bloating, prevent diarrhoea, boost immunity, and fight free radicals.
Dorcas Akinloye, a senior lecturer in the Department of Biochemistry, College of Biosciences, Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, corroborated Abioye’s stance.
She affirmed that while fermentation does produce ethanol, the amounts are too low to be harmful.
“Yes, these fermented foods do contain alcohol, but does fermentation in these foods actually produce enough alcohol to be of concern? No,” she said.
Dorcas also noted that fermentation helps remove natural toxins, making food healthier. She confirmed that cooking processes allow much of the alcohol to evaporate, and that the residual alcohol is too little to pose health risks or offend religious beliefs.
“Yes. Some can vaporise. Even normal alcohol, if you open it, will vaporise. The leftovers cannot pose any health hazard if we don’t consume them in excess,” she reassured.
Dorcas concluded by citing the law of Paracelsus: “everything, including water, is poisonous; it depends on the dose,” emphasising that only excessive intake or distilled alcohol is hazardous.
Conclusion
Fermented staple foods like garri, fufu, bread, yoghurt, and cheese may technically produce trace ethanol during fermentation, but most of it evaporates during roasting, boiling, or baking.
Experts confirm that the residual alcohol is negligible, poses no health risk, and cannot intoxicate or violate religious beliefs. Therefore, eating these foods does not mean you are “taking alcohol.”
