The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) on Monday
warned Nigerians to be wary of taking Fruits ripened with Calcium Carbide even as the agency takes stringent regulatory actions to stem the dangerous tide of Drug hawking and ripening of Fruits with Calcium Carbide.
Giving the warning at a one day media sensitization workshop on the Dangers of Drug Hawking and Ripening of Fruits with Calcium Carbide organised by the North-East Zone of the Agency in Bauchi, the Director General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Professor Mojisola Adeyeye said people should stop buying drugs from hawkers as well as patronising the sellers of fruits ripened through the use of Calcium Carbide due to the danger it poses to their health.
Represented by the Director, Chemical Evaluation and Research of the Agency, Dr. Leonard Omokpariola, Professor Adeyeye said the dangerous practice by some unscrupulous persons is killing unsuspecting members of the public, hence the need to bring journalists in to the matter with a view to creating awareness for members of the public to be aware and abstain from patronizing them.
According to her, there have been clarion calls by well-meaning Nigerians on the need to take stringent regulatory actions to stem the dangerous tide of Drug Hawking and Ripening of Fruits with Calcium Carbide.
She said that there have also been several concerns on the looming danger and health implication of these two nefarious activities by certain unpatriotic and unscrupulous citizens in our country.
According to the her, “Since 2019, we immediately took some decisive steps such as sensitization of the public through different media outlets, enforcement through intelligence and raids in fruit markets that have resulted in seizures and destruction of violative products”,
The workshop, she said is been held in fulfillment of the agency’s promise to sustain and strengthen NAFDAC’s existing collaboration journalists towards mobilizing, educating, sensitizing, and conscientizing members of the public on the dangerous practice.
Professor Adeyeye added “we are doing it for Nigerian Journalists to play frontline role in our concerted efforts to eradicate the menace of Drug Hawking and Ripening of Fruits with Calcium Carbide in Nigeria”,
According to the DG, the bulk industrial food or food ingredients that includes cereals (Cornflakes, Oat, Milk, and Beverages)are issued import permits for end-users in the manufacturing industry.
NAFDAC she added has observed that bulk industrial food or ingredients that are not in the retail pack are being sold illegally in our markets saying that , “these bulk items are openly displayed and measured to unassuming buyers with little or no care from contamination”.
The agency is currently addressing such market practice through monitoring of the utilization rate and capacity (installed) of end-users to block the gas/leakage of the non-retailed packaged product from being sold in our markets, the DG said.
