The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has debunked a news publication in an online media alleging non-establishment of testing laboratory for food fortification.
A statement by NAFDAC Resident Media Consultant, Mr Olusayo Akintola, in Abuja on Monday stated that the attention of the agency was drawn to the September 30 publication by “Flowerbud NEWS” in respect of the subject matter.
Akintola stated that the publication 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.
He debunked the position of the organisations about NAFDAC, saying it has laboratories for analyses of micronutrients in foods.
“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),” he said.
He stated that the metal unit analyses all the nutritional and heavy toxic metals in foods including the fortification vehicles.
The units have well-trained staff that are technically equipped to handle the equipment in the analysis of micronutrients using internationally accepted protocols, Akintola said, adding that the test scopes of the 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.
Akintola said that the laboratory along other NAFDAC laboratories in other parts of the country handles over 10,000 samples of fortified foods in the 2023 Food Fortification Survey.
He disclosed that the results of the samples are presented to the National Fortification Alliance (NFA), which consists of representatives of the industries – flour mills, sugar processing and vegetable oil industries, as well as government and regulatory agencies and donor partners.
He said that NAFDAC does not and had never contracted the analysis of its micronutrients or any parameter of its regulated products to private laboratory since the assumption of office of Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye as its Director- General.
