NAFDAC reiterates commitment to control food, food items

National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has reiterated its determination to control and monitor food and food items in the country.

The agency’s Director of Public Affairs, Mr Abubakar Jimoh, said this in an interview with our reporter on Tuesday in Abuja.

He said that the agency remained committed to food monitoring, while ensuring that all food items contained the right minerals and fortified with vitamin A.

Jimoh listed food items containing vitamin A to include beverages, margarine, flour, sugar and salt iodisation, stressing that local salt mined in states such as Ebonyi, Taraba, Benue and Nasarawa now contained iodine.

He said this was as a result of the intervention of the agency, noting that prior to now, salt mined in those states had no iodine.

According to him, NAFDAC does not only monitor counterfeit drugs, but dedicated to controlling contaminated foods too.

He said that the fight against counterfeit drugs often generated much publicity, stressing that was why people came with the notion that the agency was concentrating more on drugs than food.

Jimoh said that the agency had also embarked on aggressive campaign on hygienic water, particularly packaged water, classified under food.

He noted that “in the past, we talk of water borne diseases, but nobody is talking about cholera epidemic now because of effective regulation of packaged water by NAFDAC.

“These are proactive and preventive work that NAFDAC is doing to safeguard public health.

“When NAFDAC seizes contaminated food, it does not make news like drug.

“We have the Directorate of Food and applled Nutrition Department, which is doing a whole lot of work.”

The director said that in setting standards for food, the agency work closely with appropriate authorities to promote the export of the country’s agriculture products to have value addition.