Food safety: NAFDAC to ensure exports meet standards

Th e National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control( NAFDAC), has said as a regulatory body it will take Nigeria to a new level of export by ensuring that Nigerian exports especially regulated packaged and prepackaged products are safe, of good quality, and meet specifi ed international standards. It also said is working with all relevant Government Agencies involved in product quality and safety to ensure the realization.

Th e Deputy Director Ports Inspection Directorate, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, Abuja, Pharm (Mrs.) Carol C. Obelle stated this in a presentation at the south-east nationwide advocacy on agricultural quality control and standardization across the six geo-political zones, held at Oakland Hotel, Enugu recently. Mrs. Obelle said as the Act that setup NAFDAC empowered it to regulate and control the manufacture, importation, exportation, distribution, advertisement, sale and use of food, drugs, cosmetics, chemicals/ detergents, medical devices and packaged water (known as regulated products), it is also mandated to certify Packaged Semi-Processed and Processed Food Commodities for Export due to repeated rejections and Alert Notifi cations received on this category of food products from European Union’s (EU), USA etc. She disclosed that most of these rejections are due to non-compliance to sanitary standards, -contamination, with insects and rodent fi lth- followed by microbiological contamination, acidifi cation, and pesticide violations.

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