NAFDAC Gives Conditions for Renewal of Product Licences

Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has warned food and drug manufacturing companies that it will no longer renew their licences if they do not have a Post Marketing Surveillance Unit in place.

NAFDAC also stated that food companies must guard against poorly incinerated cereals that sometimes sneak into the market as unbranded products, thus posing dangers to consumers’ health.

A statement issued by NAFDAC’s Resident Media Consultant, Sayo Akintola, quoted the Director-General of the agency, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, as having given the warning at the agency’s Food Safety and Applied Nutrition Directorate Stakeholders’ engagement with food sector operators in Lagos.

Adeyeye also said NAFDAC will no longer accept poorly destroyed expired or stolen products being sneaked into the market through scavengers at waste dump site, thereby endangering the lives of innocent consumers, particularly children.

She further insisted that “if a product doesn’t have a NAFDAC number, such a product can’t guarantee the safety.’’

The DG, however, urged manufacturers of food products to always be more concerned about their products in the market by establishing Post Market Surveillance Unit in their companies

She recalled that many years ago, the agency had made Post Marketing Surveillance (PMS) mandatory for companies, but compliance has been poor.

Adeyeye stated that: “Henceforth, if a company doesn’t have Post Marketing Surveillance or Post Marketing Pharmacovigilance (for drug manufacturing companies) department, the product will not be renewed.

“We have asked companies to establish PMS department where people are sent out to the market to see what’s happening to their products out there.

“Once you get an inkling of somebody adulterating your product you call us because you don’t have power to go with the police. We have the power to go and raid.

“That’s why we need the collaboration because we must change our industrial practice. That’s how to get the best out of your trade. Once you tell us, I assure you that we will be there in hours in terms of mopping it up and getting the suspect arrested and prosecuted,” she stated.

Adeyeye, while deploring the habit of patronising unbranded cereals in the open market, warned members of the public to stop buying product that is not certified by NAFDAC.

In 2021 and 2022, she recalled that the agency carried out a lot of investigation and enforcement activities on unbranded cereals leading to the arrest of some people that were selling them online in Onitsha and brought them to Lagos.

The DG said investigation has shown that people prefer buying the unbranded products despite the inherent dangers associated with it.