The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), has banned the importation of Indomie’s ‘Special Chicken’ flavour in the country and launched an investigation on other noodles including their seasonings.
This was revealed i a statement made by the Director-general (DG) of NAFDAC, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, on Tuesday, May 2.
In her statement, she said, “Indomie noodles have been banned from being imported into the country for many years. It is one of the foods on the government prohibition list. It is not authorized in Nigeria, and therefore not registered by NAFDAC.
“We also want to be sure that the spices used for the Indomie and other noodles in Nigeria are tested. That is what NAFDAC Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (FSAN) and Post-Marketing Surveillance (PMS) are doing this week at the production facilities and in the market, respectively.”
She explained that ethylene oxide,NAFDAC Bans Indomie Special Noodles, Commences Investigation on Other Variants of Noodles a cancer-causing agent was discovered. However the Directorate of Food Lab Services has been engaged to start working on the methodology for the analysis of the cancer-causing agent in Indomie’s “special chicken” flavor noodles. This noodles is produced by Taiwan and Malaysian authorities.
The DG further said the noodle is not allowed in the country, and therefore not registered by the agency. NAFDAC only authorized the circulation of Indomie noodles produced in Nigeria and not imported.
“What we are doing is an extra caution to ensure that the product is not smuggled in, and if so, our post-marketing surveillance would detect it. We also want to be sure that the spices used for the Indomie and other noodles in Nigeria are tested.
World Health Organisation (WHO) described the substance, ethylene oxide as “ a colourless, odourless gas that is used to sterilize medical devices and spices and is believed to be responsible for lymphoid cancer and breast cancer.
