Against the background of malpractices being perpetuated by some unscrupulous traders that use carbide to rapidly ripen fruits, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has challenged Nigerians that were privy to such dangerous activities to report to the Agency for prompt action.
The Director General of NAFDAC, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, who made the call recently, said it was only when people engaging in such malpractices were caught and punitive measures applied that others engaging in such negative activities would be deterred.
To this end, Adeyeye, at a recent media briefing on malpractices on food, encouraged citizens to alert the Agency about such occurrence in their areas, with a view to check the trend that were dangerous to health to the extent of causing fatality and morbidity.
She said in terms of efforts to stop the use of carbide, NAFDAC has met with the different local market associations to educate them on standard acceptable practices, but “It is not something we do one time; we have to keep doing it to make sure that this resonates well with them and it is reinforced”.
However, in terms of punitive action, she said: “We have to catch them doing it and that is where you and I are important. If you know that a particular place is using carbide, report to NAFDAC. It is a matter of calling and somebody from NAFDAC end will pick it up, and you describe where this is taking place and we will go there for follow up.”
According to her, it is not possible that NAFDAC will be in all places. Considering that Nigerian environment was a societal community, she implored citizens to be active in terms of reporting because without that all Nigerians were in danger.
According to Adeyeye, reporting such malpractices to NAFDAC was the way to go in tackling this dangerous trend, adding that applying punitive measures would deter others.
This according to her, using carbide to ripen fruits was dangerous to health; it could damage internal organs such as kidney, liver, among others.
The Director General of NAFDAC, however, appealed to market men and women engaging in such despicable practices to desist from such, adding that they should end the era of short-cuts of ripening fruits with carbide.
On people that were still using Sniper to commit suicide, Adeyeye lamented that their actions were shocking.
Although, an earlier meeting with the producers of Snipers resulted in the decision to ban the 100ml pack while restricting the sale of agro-chemicals to agro-based use.
