The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control on Wednesday moved to place sanction on non-compliance by manufacturers to set up Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point system plan in their factories.
The agency, which also harped on the strict adherence to laid down standards, said no failing manufacturer would be spared of the sledge hammer in few weeks to come.
The Director General of NAFDAC, Dr. Paul Orhii, who spoke through the agency’s Director for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition Directorate, Ogochukwu Mainasara, sounded the warning in Asaba, Delta State during the Agency’s workshop on Food Safety in collaboration with UTOPIA TRAINING for food industries and selected NAFDAC officials in the South South and South East zones.
At the workshop, tagged: International Food Safety – Capacity Building Workshop for Industry and Regulators, Mainasara disclosed: “NAFDAC being among the top 18 regulatory agencies in the world in the hue of United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA), European Food Safety Authority, United Kingdom Food Standard Agency, Food Directorate of Canada etc, will not compromise food safety hence the training workshop and capacity building for stake holders.”
Mainasara, supported by Cyril Monye, the Public Relations Officer NAFDAC for the South-South Zone, said the agency’s restructuring in 2013 led to the establishment of Food Safety and Applied Nutrition Directorate due to the high premium it placed on food and to adequately regulate the sector, warning that unsatisfactory, GMP, GHP and HACCP will lead to closure of establishments after the capacity building workshop.
She warned: “Build up your capacity because I cannot joke with Food Safety, 167 million Nigeria Nigerians eat food at least once a day and it will result to unmitigated disaster if standards are compromised. They are food borne diseases and epidemics due to unsatisfactory Good Hygienic Practice (GHP) and Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP). Nobody boarders to adhere to HACCP, this will not be allowed to continue.”
She said government trust is to build up the local industries so that they can compare favourably with the outside world, noting that the agency analyses export products free of charge and the recent review of NAFDAC charges did not affect local manufacturers.
The three-day workshop was highly interactive with the Chief Executive Officer of UTOPIA TRAINING, William Thomas, and other resource persons taking the participants through the processes of hazard control in food industries.
Food industries representatives in all the states in the South South and South East attended the workshop.
—