Chioma Obinna and Joy Isei
29 October 2008
National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), yesterday warned that it will no longer tolerate the importation of substandard products into Nigeria and will also not allow the exportation of substandard products out of the country.
The agency also allayed fears on the recent reports, questioning the standards used by the agency to certify food, inclusive of non-alcoholic soft drinks, saying, "All products certified by the agency meets both national and CODEX, which is the international standard."
Speaking at a news briefing in Lagos, NAFDAC's Ag. Director Laboratory Services, Mrs. Stella Denloye threatened that the agency would clamp down on companies found wanting in that regard.
According to Denloye, prior to exportation of any product, an exporter must find out the requirements for the country of exportation and ensure that the goods for export conform with those requirements.
Continuing, the Assistant Director who specifically cited the recently exported Coca-Cola products by a company in Nigeria without finding out the requirements of the country of exportation and without obtaining the necessary permits for export from NAFDAC said, "The agency utilises both national standards and Codex Alimentarius standards. The Codex Alimentarius standards are international food standards set by the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CODEX) to protect consumer health and ensure fair practices in international food trade."
She further hinted that a court of law had already ruled that NAFDAC should carry out a routine laboratory tests of all soft drinks and allied products of Nigerian Bottling Company Plc.
Her words: "NAFDAC will obey the court order in addition to its normal routine tests. It is important to state that the Agency routinely carries out tests on both locally manufactured and imported products.
NAFDAC also ensures the wholesomeness and safety of products even after registration.".
Announcing that in the course of its routine tests, Coca-Cola products have been found to conform to required standards, she however, added that while adopting CODEX standards, every country has a right to determine the limits applicable within its own territory and therefore the limits could vary from country to country.
"To avoid misrepresentation and misinterpretation, the National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) wishes to clarify issues on the standards used by NAFDAC to certify food, inclusive of non-alcoholic soft drinks.
For example, the CODEX limit for benzoic acid in nonalcoholic soft drinks is 600mg/ per litre, while in Nigeria the limit is set at 250mg/l maximum. In this case, the European Union (EU) has adopted 150mg/ per litre as their maximum level. For some artificial food colourants like sunset yellow, there are no CODEX provisions while the EU has set 50mg per litre as its maximum.
But in Nigeria, we use 250 mg per litre and this standard is set by Standard organisation of Nigeria (SON).
Again, the issue of sugar, there is a range or quantity of sugar usually between seven or 14 mg per litre. All these products we are talking about fall within the range. If somebody decides to keep it at 7 or 10, it is still meeting the requirements but the one of 10 will be sweeter definitely." She added.
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