The Federal Government has reassured Nigerians that
the Coca-Cola products manufactured in Nigeria were safe for consumption.
This is contained in a statement issued by Mrs
Akinola Boade, the Director, Media and Public Relations, Federal Ministry of
Health, on Friday in Abuja.
She said the explanation followed a stakeholders
meeting summoned by the Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, to address
related issues on the recent court judgment on the case filed by Fijabi
Holdings against the Nigeria Bottling Company and NAFDAC.
Adewole explained that both benzoic acid and
ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) were ingredients approved by International Food
Safety regulators and used in many food and beverage products around the world.
“Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) is the
organisation established by Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United
Nations (FAO) and World Health Organisation (WHO) to set internationally
recognised standards, codes of practice, guidelines relating to foods, food
production and food safety.
“In the case of benzoic acid, the standard set by
Codex was 600mg/kg until recently reviewed to 250mg/kg and adopted in 2016.
“With reference to the Codex standard and other
relevant documents, Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) in consultation
with and relevant stakeholders elaborated the standard of benzoic acid in soft
drinks to be at 250mg/kg based on the national climatic and storage conditions.
“This standard has been in existence since 1997 and
revised in 2008, the levels of benzoic acid in Fanta (1 batch) and Sprite (2
batches) presented by the claimant in the court are 188.64mg/kg, 201.06mg/kg
and 161.5mg/kg, respectively,” he said.
The minister stressed that the levels were in
compliance with both the Codex and Nigeria Industrial Standards, stressing that
the Coca-Cola products manufactured in Nigeria were safe for consumption in
view of the following reasons:
“Risk assessment was conducted to ascertain maximum
limits of food additives acceptable in foods. This takes into consideration the
environmental, storage and distribution conditions as well as the shelf life of
food products.
“NAFDAC and SON regularly monitor the manufacturing
practices of food industries and conduct laboratory analysis to ascertain
continuous compliance with required national standards.
“There was a routine inspection conducted at Nigeria
Bottling Company by NAFDAC officers in December 2016, which was satisfactory.
“With reference to the Codex standards, each country
or region is permitted to adapt a standard and limit based on country specific
scientific evidence such as environmental, storage and distribution
conditions,” he added.
Adewole noted that benzoic acid as a preservative
prevents the growth of micro-organisms which thrive more at higher climatic
temperatures like in Nigeria.
He said that due to the different environmental
conditions obtainable in the UK, the standard for benzoic acid was set at a
lower limit of 150mg/kg, while in Nigeria it was set at 250mg/kg even below
that of Codex (as at time of production of that batch; Codex limit was
600mgkg).
Besides, the minister said that food products being
imported into a country must comply with the relevant standards of the
destination country.
“NAFDAC has processes in place to ensure products
imported into the country are evaluated to ascertain compliance with required
Nigeria Industrial Standards.’’
Adewole further said that the claimant did not
obtain NAFDAC certification before export; otherwise, he would have been
advised on the required standard of the destination country.
He therefore advised Nigerians to take medicines
with potable water as this would help to prevent unexpected drug-food
interactions.
He added that all bottling companies are encouraged
to insert advisory warnings on all products as necessary.
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