The National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) on Sunday announced that a total of 22 bakeries and 25 sachet water factories have been shutdown during routine inspection in Maiduguri, Borno State.
The agency’s Coordinator in Borno, Nasiru Mato, who disclosed this shortly after a raid in Maiduguri, said some of the sealed factories failed to meet the minimum requirements to operate.
Mato said some also failed to obtain license permit from the food and drug agency.
He added that “we have done a lot in terms of surveillance, investigative inspections and prompt response to consumer complaints and alerts.
” The objective is to ensure that the health and safety of the public is adequately catered for.
“Recently, we embarked on serious sensitisation visits to worship centres across the state.
“We have visited not less than 20 Mosques and Churches to create awareness on key issues of health concern, ranging from dangers of drug abuse and how to identify fake products.
“We have also educated people on the dangers of calcium carbide, a dangerous chemical used to hasten fruits’ ripening and the efforts has yielded positive results.
“Many people are more aware now and are wary of things happening around them.
“Operationally, we have paid surveillance and unannounced visits to bakeries to ascertain their good hygiene practices and to further ascertain their compliance with NAFDAC regulations.
“In addition, we visited factories where packaged water is produced to ensure that producers comply with good hygiene practice, as well as good manufacturing guidelines.”
