CANCER: NAFDAC releases fresh statement on Indomie noodles 

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) said on Tuesday that Noodles made in Nigeria are safe for consumption and have nothing to do with the noodles produced in Taiwan and Malaysia. 

Director-General of NAFDAC, Mojisola Adeyeye said this as a guest on a popular TV show, ‘Your View’, aired on TVC television monitored by City news.

Mojisola further added that “foreign noodles have been banned from entering the country by the Nigerian government many years ago and this is on the Nigerian Customs Service importation prohibition list and this is to encourage local production of noodles and backward integration of the economy.”

NAFDAC also said it is working to ensure that foreign-made noodles are not smuggled into the country. NAFDAC Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (FSAN) organisation, has commenced post-marketing surveillance (PMS) and the Food Lab Services Directorate has also been activated on the issue.

According to the Group Corporate Communications and Event Manager, Dufil Prima Foods Plc, Tope Ashiwaju, said “Indomie Nigeria is different and a separate entity from Indomie Taiwan, and Indomie Malaysia.

Indomie instant Noodles is locally produced in the country and operations have been ongoing for at least three decades. Dufil Prima has improved local capacity utilisation and has aided enhanced production to meet market demand, rather than depending on importation.”

The World Instant Noodles Association (WINA) says Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, is currently among the largest consumers of instant noodles with 1.92 million servings as of May 2020.

The ban on the importation of instant noodles is not a recent development, as instant noodles have been on the importation prohibition list of the Federal Government for a long time.