Port Harcourt: The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has directed supermarket owners across Nigeria to ensure that all products sold to consumers meet safety standards and comply with global regulatory guidelines.
The NAFDAC Director, South-South Zone, Mr Chukwuma Oligbu, gave the charge at a stakeholders’ sensitisation workshop, organised for supermarket owners in Port Harcourt, on Wednesday.
Oligbu said the workshop aimed to sensitise supermarket owners to NAFDAC regulations and guidelines, compliance, and consumer safety.
“This workshop will also strengthen partnerships between regulators and operators, and promote compliance with NAFDAC regulations,” he said.
According to him, supermarkets play a critical role in ensuring that safe, quality, and regulated products reach the public.
The NAFDAC zonal boss further charged supermarket owners to adhere to regulatory requirements and best operational practices.
He said that NAFDAC’s regulatory oversight was not intended to hinder business growth but to protect public health and promote ethical business operations.
He also advised the stakeholders to source and store their products in line with the global regulatory list and also train their staff to be aware of the guidelines and operations.
A breast milk nutrition expert, Prof. Alice Nte, from the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, spoke on regulations against giving prominence to breast milk substitutes or baby milk in supermarkets, and against their advertisement or promotion in any form.
Nte underscored the importance of mothers’ breast milk to the newborn, which, he said, helps in fighting childhood diseases, infections and cancer in breastfeeding mothers.
She urged supermarket owners to comply with NAFDAC’s regulations and guidelines to ensure consumer safety.
Also, the Deputy Director of the NAFDAC South-South Zone, Mrs Riter Chukwuma, took the participants through the guidelines for global product listing.
Chukwuma emphasised the need for strict adherence to regulations to avoid confiscation of imported products.