National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has warned Nigerians against adding chemicals and additives to food and drinks to enhance the taste as such practices could result in severe illness and even death.
Director-General of NAFDAC, Prof Mojisola Adeyeye, in her statement signed by its Resident Media Consultant, Sayo Akintola, on Sunday, said the Agency would stop at nothing to ensure that only safe food and other regulated products are available in the market for consumption and use by Nigerians.
Adeyeye made this known while speaking against the backdrop of the recent Kano incident where three people reportedly died as a result of their consumption of dangerous chemicals used as additives while serving flavored drinks to unsuspecting consumers in the ancient city.
Adeyeye disclosed that a preliminary result of the Agency’s investigation was submitted to the Kano State governor, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, during her two-day visit to the state on an on-the-spot assessment of the incident.
Adeyeye noted with regret that three fatalities were recorded with many people having their health compromised.
‘’Even if just one person died, that will be one too many. It’s heart-warming to note that all the merchants of the deadly chemicals and additives have been apprehended while further investigation continues.”
According to Adeyeye, “the importance of food cannot be over-emphasized as noted that when dangerous foreign elements find their way into our foods and water, then it becomes poisonous rather than being nutritious’.’
She pointed out that food contamination and poisoning could occur through consuming expired food.
‘’We are very particular about food additives, about the temperature at which food can be kept, or about the expiration date of food.
“If all of these are violated, then there could be food poisoning whether it is food or water, adding chemicals and other substances either to enhance the food or change its form can be dangerous especially when we can’t verify the source and content of such additives.”
Adeyeye also disclosed that NAFDAC is now working assiduously in partnership with the Kano State government to prevent the reoccurrence of the March 11, 2021 incident.
She said that her Agency will be working with the Kano State Taskforce under the Federal Task Force on Counterfeit and Fake Drugs and Unwholesome Processed Foods, which is domiciled in NAFDAC, and the Nigeria Consumers Protection Agency in Kano.
She explained that shortly after the news about the Kano incident was received by NAFDAC, six directorates of the Agency immediately swung into action to unravel the mystery behind the sad event.
She added that internal checks revealed that only two of the five flavored drinks identified in the incidence were registered by NAFDAC while three were not on the Agency’s database.
She said samples of the chemicals and additives that were added while preparing the flavored drinks for consumption were collected and taken to NAFDAC’s, laboratory in Kaduna for testing.
‘’We have five flavored drinks. Two were registered while three were not. Any unregistered food cannot be guaranteed by NAFDAC and could be unwholesome.
“It’s fake food. It was most likely smuggled into the country, we tested all the food samples, and there were E-Coli bacteria in some.
“One would wonder how E-Coli bacteria would get into powder.
“It depends on the storage. If it’s stored in a very humid condition and expired, the packaging probably was getting compromised, you can get bacteria into the dry powdered medium. But ordinarily, it shouldn’t happen,” She said.
Adeyeye warned the public to know that they don’t have to add chemicals to food except for table salt.
“There is a prescribed amount to put in the regulated additives such as Sugar, Saccharin, and sweetening.
“Sugar, saccharin, and sweetening are inside the food and not something you sprinkle on the food like what happened in Kano,” Adeyeye stated.
