The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control in Nigeria has announced its intention to begin a random sampling of Indomie noodles from Tuesday.
The agency will also do the testing of ramdom samples of seasoning from the production facilities and the markets.
NAFDAC also said iy had banned the importation of Indomie noodles into Nigeria had been for many years.
This announcement 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. The authorities in the two countries recalled the product.
But the makers of Indomie noodles, Indofod, claimed the safety of its products. They said all instant noodles produced by the ICBP in Indonesia were processed in compliance with the food safety standards from the Codex Standard for Instant Noodles and standards set by the Indonesian National Agency for Drug and Food Control.
“ICBP has exported instant noodles to various countries around the world for more than 30 years.
The company continuously ensures that all of its products are in compliance with the applicable food safety regulations and guidelines in Indonesia as well as other countries where the ICBP’s instant noodles are marketed,” a press statement by Indofood said.
The NAFDAC Director-General, Professor Mojisola Adeyeye, said to The PUNCH, “Tomorrow, (Tuesday) May 2, 2023, NAFDAC’s Food Safety and Applied Nutrition Directorate will randomly sample Indomie noodles (including the seasoning) from the production facilities while Post Marketing Surveillance Directorate samples from the markets. The compound of interest is ethylene oxide, so the Director, Food Lab Services Directorate has been engaged. He is working on the methodology for the analysis.
“It should be noted that 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 allowed in Nigeria, and therefore not registered by NAFDAC.
“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. That is what NAFDAC Food Safety and Applied Nutrition and Post Marketing Surveillance are doing this week at the production facilities and in the market respectively.”
the investigation.
