‘Nigerian Indomie Noodles Safe To Consume’ – NAFDAC Clarifies In New Report | Details
The Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Mojisola Adeyeye has said that there is no link between the noodles manufactured in Nigeria and the one with cancer-causing substance discovered abroad.
The NAFDAC DG who sat for an interview with Arise TV, said importation of noodles produced abroad was banned a long time ago by the federal government to encourage local production.
Adeyeye further stated that while the noodles produced in Nigeria are safe, they took a precautionary measure to conduct tests following news of a cancer-causing substance being discovered in some noodles by Taiwanese and Malaysian authorities.
Also speaking as a guest on a popular TV show, Your View, aired on TVC television, the DG said:
“Foreign noodles have been banned from entering the country by the Nigerian government many years ago and this is on the Nigerian Customs Service importation prohibition list and this is to encourage local production of noodles and backward integration of the economy.”
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NAFDAC also said it is working to ensure that foreign-made noodles are not smuggled into the country.
It was gathered that NAFDAC Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (FSAN) organisation, has commenced post-marketing surveillance (PMS) and the Food Lab Services Directorate has also been activated on the issue.
According to the Group Corporate Communications and Event Manager, Dufil Prima Foods Plc, Tope Ashiwaju, said:
“Indomie Nigeria is different and a separate entity from Indomie Taiwan, and Indomie Malaysia. Indomie instant Noodles is locally produced in the country and operations have been ongoing for at least three decades.
Dufil Prima has improved local capacity utilisation and has aided enhanced production to meet market demand, rather than depending on importation.”
Nigeria is a major consumer of instant noodles, with Indomie Instant Noodles dominating the market. The World Instant Noodles Association (WINA) said Nigeria is one of the largest consumers of instant noodles, with 1.92 million.
The ban on the importation of instant noodles is not a recent development, as instant noodles have been on the importation prohibition list of the Federal Government for a long time.