The Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) Mojisola Adeyeye, said the agency would begin random sample tests of the indomie instant noodles and other brands from May 2.
This followed claims by health officials in Malaysia and Taiwan that ethylene oxide, a carcinogenic substance responsible for lymphoid cancer and, breast cancer were detected in the product leading to a series of investigations of Indofoods, manufacturers of the product.
The Ministry of Health of Malaysia (MOH) would immediately issue a directive to hold, test and release the Indomie Special Chicken Flavour instant noodles products from Malaysia at all entry points of the country.
Despite this scare, NAFDAC has asked consumers in Nigeria not to fret over the South-Asia countries’ preemptive measures
“NAFDAC did not ban Indomie,
“Indomie has been on the government prohibition list for many years to encourage local manufacturing.”
She also disclosed that the body has countermeasures to prevent the importation of these products from affected nations
“NAFDAC has registered several local manufacturers and the Indomie noodles have been safe,” she said.
“The Taiwan and Malaysia noodles have nothing to do with our local producers.”
Professor Adeyeye, however, stated that it was in no way disregarding the reports but ” is responding to the news as a cautionary post-marketing monitoring measure to ensure that locally-made noodles stay safe.”
She also said NAFDAC, will begin random sampling of Indomie noodles, including the seasoning, from the production facilities to ascertain their safety levels for consumption.
