NAFDAC has sealed a Chinese supermarket in Abuja’s Wuse 2 district for selling products labeled only in Chinese, without the required English notifications, SAVANNAH NEWSNOW REPORTS.
Shaba Mohammed, Director of Investigation and Enforcement at NAFDAC, confirmed the closure on Monday, stating that the agency took action after receiving credible information about the supermarket’s non-compliance with labeling regulations, including most goods being labeled in Chinese, which violates NAFDAC’s guidelines.
He revealed that some of the products were past their expiration dates yet were still being sold to consumers.
NAFDAC has launched an investigation into how these products entered the country and how such widespread violations occurred.
Mohammed assured the public that the agency would continue to work towards protecting consumers from harmful and unsafe products in the market.
Quoting Mohammed, “The supermarket was sealed for violating NAFDAC regulations, investigation will surely go on about this supermarket, and we will also need to go to its warehouse in order to stop them from selling some products.
“The whole information about this supermarket just go to us, if we had known the information from the beginning, we would have taken regulatory action we just took against it now.
“Selling items in foreign language in a country is a violation of our law; if you must sell anything either in Arabic, Chinese and French, you must have English translation of it.
“More than 90 per cent of the goods sold in the supermarket are in Chinese language. You might find some Nigerians patronizing the supermarket; they should be able to read about some of the items on the shelves.
“Some of these items have also expired. Even if they are giving global listing to import, they ought to be in English language. This supermarket cannot present to NAFDAC a document through which the items were approved in foreign language.
“This is not acceptable and that is why we have to seal the supermarket, we will invite the owner for further investigation before we can conclude on the case.”
The Director further asserted that the supermarket might have bypassed NAFDAC in the process of bringing some of the goods into the country. Adding that if the supermarket is found culpable of violating NAFDAC regulations, punishable action would be taken against it.
“It is not every case we charge to court; we will take regulatory action against the supermarket, which may be an administrative action. Before any certification is given by NAFDAC, it would have visited the site/shop for goods storage and distribution practice.
“NAFDAC, upon its visit, will ensure that the facilities are in accordance with NAFDAC regulations,” he asserted. The agency will not see all these items at the port with every description in foreign language and allow them in; they would have been intercepted immediately,” he added.
