The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has warned meat and fish sellers against the use of formalin to preserve the products.
Speaking at the sensitisation programme on the dangers of using local medicine, in Birnin Kebbi, the Director-General of NAFDAC, Prof. Christianah Adeyeye, said that formalin – the chemical used to preserve dead humans in morgues – is harmful to human beings when consumed.
Represented by the Director, North West Zone, Dauda Gimba, the DG said the sensitisation was to intensify and expand the scope of the informal and formal behavioural change of communication strategies, to reach the vulnerable communities on food and drug safety.
The DG said the sensitisation campaign would contribute significantly to Federal Government’s concerted efforts to inform, sensitise, educate and alert the public about inherent dangers of intake and use of those spurious regulated products.
“I am happy to inform you that the mass media, vibrant youth and civil society organisations in the pilot states will be in the forefront of the campaign,” the NAFDAC boss added.
She expressed hope that, at the end of the campaign, the participants and target audience would be dependable partners and allies of the agency at the forefront of the public awareness by disseminating the massage to the grassroots.
“Our ultimate goal is to ensure that various communities take the ownership of the care and management of their health,” she said.
The Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Health, Dr. Yusuf Sununu, commended NAFDAC for the campaign to make people aware of the dangers of using falsified medical products and unwholesome foods.
The Permanent Secretary, Kebbi State Ministry of Health, Hassan Maigandi, assured NAFDAC of the state government’s continued support on campaigns to ensure authentic medical products and wholesome foods are sold to the people for a healthy society.
The target audience includes traders, road transport workers and employers, community youth organisations and students.
