NAFDAC seals rice processing facility in Niger

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), has sealed Jaff Foods Limited, a rice processing facility for not complying with manufacturing practice in Niger state.

The Director, North Central Zone of NAFDAC, Shaba Mohammed ordered the sealing of the facility during the agency’s routine inspection of facilities in the state.

Shaba explained that although the facility was registered with the agency, but the production environment was unhygienic without good production manufacturing practice.

“The rice processing facility has been sealed and given compliance directives for complying with the instance regulations for which they were given to produce and certification.

“The place is unhygienic and they are not doing production according to good manufacturing practice,” he said.

He added that the agency also discovered that some key personnel employed by the company were not knowledgeable in areas of production and do not know anything about production.

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The agency also placed on hold dispenser water at Golden Age Water for not having batching coding and date marking and also confiscated some unregistered herbal teas from Jonapal Supermarket in Minna.

In the same vein, the agency has organised a one-day workshop for Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME’s) to sensitise clients and stakeholders on Automated Product Administration and Monitoring System (NAPAMS).

Shaba explained that NAPAMS was an e-registration and data capture system that provides an online electronic medium for the application for products registration with NAFDAC.

He advised MSME’s to take advantage of Napams ease their interface with the agency and called on the general public to report anything that would endanger lives of the people to the agency.

“This is a call to the general public to report to us anything they noticed that is being consumed that will endanger the lives of the people.

“Also, people should always check expiry dates of anything or products they are buying before purchasing them, if you suspect an expiry date on a product, report to us in NAFDAC” he added

Declaring the workshop opened, was the Niger state NAFDAC Coordinator, Pharmacist James Kigbu said the workshop is to sensitise MSME’S on Napams portal introduced by the agency for ease of doing business.

In their separate goodwill messages, Mr Folorunsho Ibrahim, Manager of Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDEN) and Mrs Okwy Effiong, President, Export of Unique Nigerian Products, described NAFDAC as major stakeholders in the state

They called for continuous mutual understanding between the agency MSME’S and urged Small Medium Enterprises to take advantage of Napams to interface with NAFDAC from the comfort of their homes.

During the workshop, Mrs Igwe Lilian, made presentations on Requirement for Registration and Renewal of Licence for Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME’s).