The Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Professor Moji Adeyeye has condemned the incessant rejection of food and agricultural commodities from Nigeria by the United States of America (USA) and the European Union (EU) member countries on grounds of poor quality.
Adeyeye slammed the actions of the US and EU on Nigerian products when she talked about Quality and Safety of Export Food Trade during a virtual technical roundtable meeting with the h Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development MARD, Foreign Portfolio Investments FPIS, Standard Organization of Nigeria SON, Nigeria Export Promotion Council NEPC, Institute of Public Analysts of Nigeria IPAN, and others recently.
According to a statement by NAFDAC Resident Media Consultant, Sayo Akintola, Adeyeye was not happy with the bad way in which the incessant rejection of commodities from Nigeria by the EU has projected the country.
She said the stakeholders’ meeting was very apt considering the volume of food and agricultural commodities from Nigeria encountering challenges at entry points in some European countries and the United States of America where they have been rejected repeatedly and which has become a great issue of concern.
She said Nigeria’s products that are meant for the export market are faced with the prevalence of contaminants like pesticide residues, notoriously dichlorvos and other impurities that have exceeded the maximum permitted level and some with deficient packaging and labeling which had caused a lot of products’ rejections in the global market.
She made it known that the international market is competitive and only permits products of high quality with relevant certifications and quality packaging that is environmentally friendly, to trade globally, and stressed the problem of quality, standard, certification, and appropriate packaging for made-in-Nigeria products meant for export has been an issue in the international market and there is an urgent need to tackle the issue of rejections.
Adeyeye revealed that over the years, NAFDAC has intervened to assist exporters in a bid to meet with international regulations, as a result, creating employment and earning foreign exchange for Nigeria.
