NAFDAC’s new regulation for Nigerians to live longer

The Monday morning gathering at a hotel in Lagos was brief. It was a meeting of the Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), its partners and members of the press. Most Nigerians may not get to know about that gathering. However, it was there that the NAFDAC boss, Professor Moji Adeyeye, announced that a new regulation that will affect the health and longevity of all Nigerians was gazetted. The new regulation is known as the Fats, Oils and Food containing Fats and Oils 2022. Also gazetted was the Pre-Packaged Food Labelling Regulation 202.

“If these regulations are well implemented, the health of the populace will be protected without them even knowing, without them even changing their lifestyles. That’s the wonderful thing that has happened with the coming of this regulation,” said Dr Jerome Mafeni, Technical Adviser TFA-free Nigeria Campaign, Network for Health Equity and Development (NHED), at the event.

The new regulation, Fats, Oils and Food containing Fats and Oils 2022, limits the amount of industrially-produced trans-fats to not more than two percent of the total fats in a fat, oil and food containing fats and oil products as recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

According to Professor Adeyeye, “The emergence of these two reviewed regulations implies that the 2005 versions of these two regulations stands as repealed regulations without jeopardy from whatever was purportedly done in the spirit of the old versions.”

 

Link between non-communicable diseases and trans-fats

Trans-fat, also known as trans-unsaturated fatty acids or trans fatty acids, is a type of unsaturated fat that occurs in foods.

Industrially-produced trans fats are contained in hardened vegetable fats, such as margarine and ghee, and are often present in snack food, baked foods and fried foods. Manufacturers often use them as they have a longer shelf life than other fats, the WHO explained.

WHO statistics indicate that non-communicable diseases, including heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes and chronic lung disease, are collectively responsible for 74 percent of all deaths worldwide.

This means that more than 36 million people die annually from non-communicable diseases. Among these, cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the number one cause of death, accounting for 17.5 million deaths annually. In this category, high blood pressure leads as a risk factor.

CVDs are disorders of the heart and blood vessels and they include coronary heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, rheumatic heart disease, among other conditions.

Trans-fat intake is responsible for up to 500,000 premature deaths from coronary heart disease each year around the world. “Trans fat has no known benefit and is a huge health risk that incurs huge costs for health systems,” said WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus

Coronary heart disease is an example of a non-communicable disease. Non-communicable diseases (NCDs), including heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes and chronic lung disease are collectively responsible for 74 percent of all deaths worldwide.

NCDs are estimated to account for about a quarter of total deaths in Nigeria. The probability of dying between ages 30 and 70 years from the main NCDs is 20 percent.

 

Why a new regulation was needed

At the 2018 World Health Assembly in Geneva, the WHO called on countries to eliminate industrially-produced trans fats, that is, trans fatty acid (TFAs) from global food supplies. The WHO then released an action package called REPLACE that includes policy recommendations and interventions for governments to pursue, adding that “eliminating trans-fat is key to protecting health and saving lives.”

WHO recommended two policy pathways for implementation. These are: banning the use of partially hydrogenated oils, that is the source of industrially-produced TFAs, in all foods. The second pathway is setting limits on the amount of industrially-produced TFAs produced to not more than two percent of the total fat content in all foods.

Professor Adeyeye said, “NAFDAC, with the co-operation, collaboration and support of the Federal Ministry of Health, Federal Ministry of Justice and the Trans-Fat Coalition Partners in Nigeria, have worked assiduously towards achieving the two prong pathways.

“The coalition partners include but are not limited to Global Health Advocacy Incubator (GHAI), Network for Health Equity and Development (NHED), Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA).”

The NAFDAC boss added that “in Nigeria we are already working with the industry and our partners to find alternative source to the existing partially hydrogenated oils that are the source of industrially-produced trans-fats.

“Most importantly we have reviewed the Fats and Oil regulation 2005 and we have a newly gazetted reviewed regulation known as Fats, Oil and Food Containing Fats and Oil Regulation 2022. This regulation has addressed the second pathway for elimination of industrially-produced TFAs with the limit of not more than two percent (0.02ppm) of the total fats in a fat, oil and food containing fats and oil products as recommended by WHO.

“In addition, the Pre-packaged Food Labelling Regulation 2005 has also been reviewed to take care of the labelling requirement for trans-fats, hence, we now have a reviewed and gazetted Pre-Packaged Food Labelling Regulation 2022.”

 

Turn around in health

Dr Mafeni said that once the regulations are approved and implemented by NAFDAC, Nigerians will witness a dramatic improvement in their health status.

Akinbode Oluwafemi, Executive Director, CAPPA, said, “The gazette of the regulations Fats, Oils and Food containing Fats and Oils 2022 that we celebrate today is the highpoint of a journey that began in 2018 when draft regulations were conceived and subsequently opened for input from the public and critical stakeholders before they were approved by NAFDAC Governing Council.

“This briefing marks the end of that phase and the beginning of a new phase where the media must continue to play a key role in educating the public on the contents of the regulations.

“With these regulations, we will be able to combat some risk factors of NCDs like other partners have rightly noted and we will have more time dedicated to other emerging issues around diet-related health burdens.”

 

What about fast foods?

How does NAFDAC plan to handle implementing the new regulations when it comes to fast food sold to the public without any packaging or labeling?

Professor Adeyeye told Nigerian Tribune that “NAFDAC is not just about regulations. We also do tests. We are going to go round and take samples of fast foods and test to find how much of saturated and unsaturated fats are there. That is what we are supposed to be doing to drive our regulation and make sure that clients are compliant.”

She acknowledged that since the regulation is a new one, it would take time for non-compliant fats, oils and food products already to exit the market, but added that “at a point we are going to start sampling.”