The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), has said noodles in Nigeria were safe for consumption.
The Director-General of NAFDAC, Prof Mojisola Adeyeye who made this known at the MAN House on Thursday in Lagos during the Quarterly Interactive session between the Agency and the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) explained that investigations have revealed that the Indomie Noodles implicated in the recalls in Malaysia and Taiwan was not in Nigeria.
While imploring Nigerians to always eat safely, she assured consumers of Indomie and other noodle brands in Nigeria of the safety of the staple food amongst children and some adults.
According to her, samples of the noodles and seasonings (spices), were collected by the Agency for laboratory analysis and all necessary tests were conducted by the agency to ascertain the safety of all noodles on sale in Nigeria.
She said: ‘’I love to eat good food, including noodles. But I want to be sure that the food I am eating is not going to make me sick and if I am taking medicine the food that I am eating will not make me add to the medicine that I am taking. Therefore, I take food very, very seriously.
“NAFDAC officials went round and took samples from the market ‘because there are suitcase importers that may bring such product in without us knowing
“But we needed a chemical standard. It’s all science. We are a science organization, and our processes are science-driven. We cannot conduct our Nigerian science. No. We have to use the international standard chemical agents and things like that.”
The NAFDAC boss clarified that although the Agency did not ban the importation of Indomie during the recent Taiwan and Malaysia episode where many people died after consuming Indomie Noodles, the importation of noodles generally had been banned by the Federal Government many years before she assumed office as DG NAFDAC in order to protect the local manufacturing sector.
Adeyeye urged Nigerian manufacturers to strive to bring quality into their products saying, ” You cannot add quality to it because it’s a matter of time it will show. With quality, now comes opportunities to trade globally,
Director General of MAN, Mr. Segun Quadri, eulogized Prof Adeyeye and pledged the association’s commitment to partner with NAFDAC in order to ensure the overall development of the economy and well-being of the citizens and the country.
‘’We shall be looking for the definitive action on the outstanding memorandum of understanding between NAFDAC and MAN. We remain convinced that the MOU exemplifies the concretization of the cooperation and collaboration that we have built over the years. It provides the basis for certainty, minimizes the use of discretion, and becomes a sustainable guarding document in our relationship. This is what our nation needs to work.”
