The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) said on Tuesday that Noodles made in Nigeria have nothing to do with the noodles produced in Taiwan and Malaysia. The regulator also said that noodles made in Nigeria are safe for consumption.
Speaking as a guest on a popular TV show, Your View, aired on TVC television, Director-General, NAFDAC, Mojisola Adeyeye, further added that “foreign noodles have been banned from entering the country by the Nigerian government many years ago and this is on the Nigerian Customs Service importation prohibition list and this is to encourage local production of noodles and backward integration of the economy.”
NAFDAC also said it is working to ensure that foreign-made noodles are not smuggled into the country. NAFDAC Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (FSAN) organisation, has commenced post-marketing surveillance (PMS) and the Food Lab Services Directorate has also been activated on the issue.
Nigeria is a major consumer of instant noodles, with Indomie Instant Noodles dominating the market. The World Instant Noodles Association (WINA) said Nigeria is one of the largest consumers of instant noodles, with 1.92 million. The ban on the importation of instant noodles is not a recent development, as instant noodles have been on the importation prohibition list of the Federal Government for a long time.
