A video making the rounds on social media has triggered widespread outrage after two women were allegedly caught attempting to process maggot-infested, rotten pepper at Mile 12 Market in Lagos.
The footage, recorded at the popular market and posted on TikTok by a user identified as flakesberry247 on Wednesday, showed one of the women being confronted by a crowd after allegedly bringing decomposed pepper from home to be ground into paste for use in cooking.
The second suspect reportedly escaped before she could be apprehended.
The video also captured what appeared to be a bucket of pepper visibly crawling with maggots, drawing immediate disgust from viewers.
The TikTok user who shared the clip identified herself as a food vendor and used the moment to speak out about food safety, urging Nigerians to exercise greater caution about what they consume when eating outside their homes.
She emphasized her own commitment to using only quality ingredients in her cooking, citing health consciousness as the reason her prices are higher than typical street food rates.
The incident has ignited a fierce conversation online, with many Nigerians expressing alarm over hygiene standards and food safety practices in open markets.
Some commenters advised consumers to be more vigilant when purchasing processed food items, while others called on health and environmental authorities to step up sanitation inspections and enforcement across public markets.
Mile 12 Market is one of Lagos’ largest food distribution hubs, supplying pepper, tomatoes, and onions to markets across Nigeria and parts of West Africa, making the food safety concerns raised by the incident particularly significant.
As of the time of this report, no official response or statement had been issued by relevant authorities regarding the incident or the possibility of prosecuting those involved.
𝐁𝐞 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐄𝐚𝐭, 𝐕𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐫 𝐑𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐦 𝐎𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐑𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐏𝐞𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐕𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐨
Credit: TikTok | flakesberry247
—
Follow us for more breaking news and videos pic.twitter.com/3oXPulFCgx
— Punch Newspapers (@MobilePunch) May 14, 2026
