By JVINN Okafor (Editor, Certified Products News)
Following the weekend alert that Indoomie noodles was found to be containing some carcinogenic (cancer-causing) substances, Nigeria's food and drug regulatory agency, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), said it has slammed a ban on the importation of Indomie noodles to Nigeria.
NAFDAC's Director General, Professor Mojisola Adeyeye, announced the ban in Abuja on Monday, May 1, 2023. She said the agency began a clinical investigation on Indoomie noodles products in Nigeria as soon as it got wind of the recall of the products by Taiwan and Malaysian health authorities.
Professor Adeyeye also restated that NAFDAC would begin random sample tests of the Indoomie and other noodle brands sold in Nigeria from Tuesday, May 2, 2023. “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. 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", the NAFDAC boss said.
Professor Mojisola Adeyeye however disclosed that Indoomie noodles is already on the prohibition list of the federal government. She added that the product is not registered by the agency and had been banned from importation to Nigeria years ago.
Public health authorities in Malaysia and Taiwan, on Friday, April 28, 2023, said their findings on Indoomie’s “special chicken” flavour noodles product revealed that a dangerous cancer-causing compound known as ethylene oxide was detected in the noodle brand product.
Ethylene oxide is a colourless and odourless gas that is used to sterilise medical devices and spices and is said to be a cancer-causing chemical.
Malaysia health ministry noted that it conducted clinical tests on 36 samples of Indoomie instant noodles from different brands since 2022 and found that 11 samples contained ethylene oxide.
Malaysia and Taiwan have both recalled the Indoomie product. NNL.
