By Asmau Ahmad
National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has assured consumers that the Indomie instant noodles is safe for consumption.
It may be recalled that health officials in Malaysia and Taiwan had claimed to have detected ethylene oxide, a carcinogenic substance responsible for lymphoid cancer and breast cancer in the product leading to a series of investigations of Indofoods, manufacturers of the product.
Following the discovery, the Malaysia Ministry of Health issued a directive to hold, test and release the Indomie Special Chicken Flavour instant noodles products from Malaysia at all entry points of the country.
Amid this scare, the Director-General of the health agency, Professor Mojisola Adeyeye, has asked consumers not to worry, noting that NAFDAC did not ban Indomie.
In an interview with Channels TV, Prof. Adeyeye said, “Indomie has been on the government prohibition list for many years to encourage local manufacturing.” She also disclosed that the body had put in place countermeasures to prevent the importation of the product from affected nations
“NAFDAC has registered several local manufacturers and the Indomie noodles have been safe. The Taiwan and Malaysia noodles have nothing to do with our local producers,” she added.
Prof. Adeyeye, however, stated that it was in no way disregarding the reports but 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.
Recall that NAFDAC had issued a statement that it will commence the random sampling of Indomie noodles, including the seasoning from production facilities and in markets from Tuesday.
NAFDAC also said the importation of the product into Nigeria has been banned for many years, adding that it has been on the prohibition list.
This decision followed the detection of a compound called ethylene oxide, a potentially cancer-causing substance, in Indomie’s “special chicken” flavour noodles by health officials in Malaysia and Taiwan.
