The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has sealed-off a Chinese Supermarket for allegedly selling expired products and products labelled in Chinese Language without the English translation of it as enshrine in NAFDAC’s regulations.
The Supermarket located at Azba Mall, 2 Durban Street, Wuse 2, Abuja, is owned and managed by Chinese nationals who claimed they are undergoing NAFDAC processes of getting NAFDAC license and also translating the labelling instructions into English Language in accordance with NAFDAC’s regulations.
The Director of Investigation and Leader of the enforcement team, Pharm. Shaba Mohammed, who spoke after the exercise, said “the Agency got a credible information about the violation of our regulations by the supermarket and immediately swung into action. “We carried our due diligent to ascertain the claim”.
He added that “the Agency will continue with investigation to unravel how those products got into the country in a commercial quantity with the outright violation of our labelling practice without being intercepted at the point of entry”.
Mohammed explained that NAFDAC will extend its investigation to the warehouse where their goods are being kept because 90% of the items found in their shelves are labelled in Chinese Language. This action is to stop them from selling those items to the public in order to guarantee public safety.
“Selling items labelled is foreign languages in Nigeria is actually a violation of our law. If you must sell anything labelled in either Arabic, Chinese or Indian language then you must have the English translation of it. What we found there, more than 90% of them are actually in Chinese Language,” he stressed.
“And you also find some Nigerians patronizing the supermarket. So, how are they able to read what they have bought? And not only that, when you look at the dates, some of the items have expired and they are still on the shelves”.
The Director emphasize that “even if NAFDAC gave them Global Listing to import the items, the labelling ought to have been in English Language. So, they can’t present to us any document from NAFDAC for which the items are in foreign language. That is not acceptable. So, that is why we have to seal-off the supermarket.” he said.
“We have to invite them, do thorough investigation before we conclude on the case. “You can’t be here and then you just bring in anything. No, it doesn’t happen”. “You can’t have a country in a country.”
