NAFDAC refutes allegation of non establishment of testing laboratory for fortification

 

..says it has not contacted analysis of products to private laboratory.

 

By AKOR SYLVESTER-Abuja

 

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has  refuted the allegation that it has not established testing laboratory for fortification as it is required to do.

 

The agency which reacted to the allegation contained in one of the online organisation, also stated that it do not and had never contracted the analyses of its micronutrients or any parameter of it regulated products to private laboratory.

 

In a statement signed by the Director General, Professor Christianah Mojisola Adeyeye, the agency described the publication as false and asked the public to disregard same.

 

“The attention of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has been drawn to the online publication of Flowerbud NEWS of 30th September, 2023 on non-establishment of testing laboratory for fortification by the Agency. The reporter, Lydia Ngwakwe claimed that this assertion was made by The Nigeria Economic Summit Group (NESG) in collaboration with the Civil Society Legislative Advisory Centre (CSLAC) and eHealth.

 

“I wish to state unequivocally that NAFDAC has laboratories for analyses of micronutrients in food and had been conducting annual survey on food fortification in Nigeria for the past years. Particularly, the Central Food Laboratory has international accredited micronutrient laboratory units with the state-of-the-art equipment.

 

“The laboratory has the Vitamins units for testing of vitamins in food which include Vitamin premix and fortified food vehicles. Vitamins tested include fat soluble- Vitamin A; water soluble – thiamine, riboflavin, biotin, pyridoxine hydrochloride, cyanocobalamin, folate. This unit is equipped with latest versions of Agilent and Chromaster brands of High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC).

 

“The Laboratory has the Metal unit equipped with latest models of Atomic Absorption Spectrometer (AAS), Inductively Coupled Plasma-Optical Emission Spectrometer (ICP-OES), Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometer (ICP-MS). The metal unit analyses all the nutritional and heavy toxic metals in food including the fortification vehicles.

These units have well trained staff that are technically equipped to handle these equipment in the analyses of micronutrients using internationally accepted protocols.

 

“The test scopes of these units are accredited by American National Accreditation Board (ANAB) since 2018 and this has been sustained and renewed annually.

 

“This fact can be verified from the ANAB website.

In addition, the laboratory along with other NAFDAC laboratories in other parts of the country handled over 10,000 samples of fortified food in the 2023 Food fortification survey.

 

“The result of these samples was presented to the National Fortification Alliance (NFA).

The NFA consist of representatives of the industries – Flourmills, Sugar processing, Vegetable oil,etc., government and regulatory agencies, and donor partners.

 

“I wish to state here that NAFDAC do not and had never contracted the analyses of its micronutrients or any parameter of it regulated products to private laboratory since my assumption of office as the Director General”.

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