The Director General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, Prof Mojisola Adeyeye, on Thursday, said the outcome of the laboratory investigation conducted on Indomie and other noodle brands in Nigeria following the alert raised by the health officials of Taiwan and Malaysia showed that locally-produced Indomie instant noodles in Nigeria are safe for consumption.
This is according to a statement on Thursday titled, ‘NAFDAC meets MAN, reassures consumers of safety of Indomie noodles in Nigeria.’
In the statement, made available to The PUNCH by NAFDAC Resident Media Consultant, Sayo Akintola, the agency “assured consumers of Indomie and other noodle brands in Nigeria of the safety of the staple food amongst children and some adults, insisting that investigations by the agency have revealed that Indomie Noodles implicated in the recalls in Malaysia and Taiwan is not in Nigeria.”
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It quoted the NAFDAC DG to have made the disclosure during the quarterly interactive session between NAFDAC and the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria.
NAFDAC had early last month launched an investigation after Taiwan and Malaysian authorities said they detected a compound called ethylene oxide, a potentially cancer-causing substance, in Indomie’s ‘special chicken flavour’ which led to the recall of the product.
Speaking on the outcome of the probe, the NAFDAC DG explained that, “The agency has run all the necessary tests but we needed a chemical standard. It’s all science. We are a science organisation, and our processes are science-driven. We cannot conduct our own Nigerian science. No. We have to use the international standard chemical agents and things like that.”
Adeyeye, however, noted that noodles generally had been banned in Nigeria by the Federal Government many years before she assumed office as the DG to protect the local manufacturing sector.
She urged MAN to take advantage of the opportunity to generate foreign exchange for the nation’s economy.
The Director General of MAN, Segun Quadri, pledged to work with NAFDAC to enhance the nation’s GDP and competitiveness index.
(Punch)
