By Kemi Akintokun
The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) says over 10,000 cartons of unregistered tomato paste and cosmetic products were seized at Lagos Trade Fair Market.
The five-day operation was conducted by NAFDAC’s Investigation and Enforcement team at the cosmetics section of the market.
Dr Martins Iluyomade, Director of Investigation and Enforcement, told journalists on Tuesday that the raid was part of ongoing efforts to remove unregistered and harmful products from Nigerian markets.
He said: “We seized over 10,000 cartons of unregistered tomato paste, as well as cosmetics such as creams, soaps, body sprays, washes, air fresheners and toothpaste.
“We cannot guarantee the safety of these seized products because they have not undergone any regulatory scrutiny.
“One way to safeguard public health is to remove harmful products from markets before they can kill unsuspecting Nigerians.
“I can say authoritatively that deaths from substandard medicines, cosmetics and unsafe foods exceed the number of people killed by Boko Haram.
“This is why the agency remains committed to ensuring Nigerians use only products that have passed regulatory processes, assuring safety and effectiveness.”
The Director said a newly inaugurated multi-agency task force would boost NAFDAC’s surveillance against substandard medicines and unsafe processed foods nationwide.
He added that the agency’s partnership with the Nigeria Customs Service to strengthen border control was yielding results.
“We are working hard to prevent falsified and unregistered items from entering the country, hence our Memorandum of Understanding with the Nigeria Customs Service.
“The Nigeria Customs Service has handed over many seized fake products to us, and we have also transferred some to them,” he added.
Iluyomade urged Nigerians to use NAFDAC’s decentralised registration process to verify and register their products.
He reaffirmed NAFDAC’s commitment to ridding the country of unregistered, substandard and expired products.
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