The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has seized over 10,ooo cartons of fake tomato paste and cosmetic products at the Lagos Trade Fair Market.
According to the agency, the development occured during NAFDAC’s Investigation and Enforcement team’s five-day operation at the cosmetics section of the market.
The Director of Investigation and Enforcement, Dr Martins Iluyomade, on Tuesday informed journalists that the operation was designed with a bid to uncover and remove harmful projects from Nigerian markets.
He said: “We seized over 10,000 cartons of unregistered tomato paste, as well as cosmetics such as creams, soaps, body sprays, washes, air fresheners, and toothpaste.
He said, “We cannot guarantee the safety of these seized products because they have not undergone any regulatory scrutiny. One way to safeguard public health is to remove harmful products from markets before they can kill unsuspecting Nigerians.
“I can say authoritatively that deaths from substandard medicines, cosmetics, and unsafe foods exceed the number of people killed by Boko Haram.
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“This is why the agency remains committed to ensuring Nigerians use only products that have passed regulatory processes, assuring safety and effectiveness.”
The director claimed that a newly inducted multi-agency task force would improve NAFDAC’s surveillance, and the fight against unsafe foods and products would yield results
He also added that the agency is in partnership with the Nigeria Customs Service to strengthen border control, and its results are notable
“We are working hard to prevent falsified and unregistered items from entering the country, hence our Memorandum of Understanding with the Nigeria Customs Service.
“The Nigeria Customs Service has handed over many seized fake products to us, and we have also transferred some to them,” he added.
The Director also encouraged Nigerians to use NAFDAC’s decentralised registration process to check and register their products, stressing NAFDAC’s desire to curb fake products in Nigeria.
