The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has placed an importation ban on Indomie noodles as it revealed that investigation will commence into the cancerous substance in the noodles on Tuesday.
According to NAFDAC Director-General, Mojisola Adeyeye, the agency would commence random sample tests of the noodles and other brands from May 2.
Adeyeye said NAFDAC started investigating once it got an idea of the recall of the products by Taiwan and Malaysia authorities.
“Tomorrow, 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 (will) samples from the markets,” she said.
“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,” Adeyeye told TheCable
The DG revealed the product is on the prohibition list of the federal government, adding that it is not registered by the agency and had been banned from importation to Nigeria years ago.
She added that NAFDAC is working to ensure that the product is not being smuggled and that the feedback from the investigations would be communicated to the public.
“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,” the NAFDAC DG revealed.
“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.
Recall that Health officials in faraway Malaysia and Taiwan said they had detected ethylene oxide, a compound, in Indomie’s special chicken flavour noodles.
According to research, Ethylene oxide is a colourless, odourless gas that is used to sterilise medical equipment and plastics. It is said to be a cancer-causing chemical.
In light of the discovery, Malaysia and Taiwan have since recalled the Indomie special chicken flavour from shelves.
However, reacting to the allegation, Indofood, makers of Indomie noodles, argued that the product was safe for consumption.
Taufik Wiraatmadja, a member of the board of directors at Indofoods, said the noodles received standard certifications and were produced in compliance with international food safety regulations.
