The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control in Nigeria(NAFDAC) will on Tuesday begin a random investigation on Indomie Instant Noodles.
The investigation exercise would be at the production facilities and the markets tomorrow.
NAFDAC also said it would also extract a sample from the Instant Noodles seasoning during the exercise.
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This came after a compound called ethylene oxide–a potentially cancer-causing substance in Indomie’s “special chicken” flavour noodles was detected by health officials in Malaysia and Taiwan.
The agency added that the importation of Indomie noodles into Nigeria had been banned for many years and the products were on the prohibition list.
The Director-General of NAFDAC, Prof Mojisola Adeyeye said:
“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.”
