By Omolara Akintoye and Charles Okonji
The National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Federal Institute of Industrial Research, Oshodi (FIIRO), Alpha Chemicals laboratories, among others, have been awarded accreditation for food fortification by the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN).
Speaking at a press briefing as it brings the Enable Nigeria Project to an end in Lagos, the Country Director, GAIN, Dr. Michael Ojo, pointed out that the move became necessary after having discovered that access to information is becoming an issue that is affecting policy decisions around food fortification in Nigeria.
“We discover that the capacities of our laboratories are limited when it comes to analysis; a lot of them are not recognised, not certified nor accredited. So we selected a number of laboratories, work them through some mentorship, we started with that analysis to know what is missing within analytical space; we put them together and come up with an 8 month mentorship programme for them towards accreditation. We took them through rigorous requirements of the accreditation body which is Nigeria National Accreditation Service (NINAS) though it’s been tough, they scaled through and today they are qualified to have this accreditation”, he said.
He said the project is for the duration of 18 months and the focus is to use the food system to improve the diets that people consume on a daily basis, hence, GAIN tries to support increased availability of nutritious and safe foods and also affordability, as well as work on supply, demand and the enabling environment.
Speaking on the essence of fortifying Nigerian foods, the Senior Programme Manager, GAIN, Dr. Olapeju Phorbee, said there is need to fortify our foods because in history Nigeria is a country that has micro nutrient deficiency; you hardly see these deficiencies in food but they manifest in death and sicknesses, and it’s really alarming, that is why a lot of people fall sick over little things which can be prevented.
“Foods such as sugar, salt, flour, etc., should be fortified. The acceptance of Nigerian products will increase with the accreditation”, she said.
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For the laboratories that are being accredited, the Director, Accreditation, Nigeria National Accreditation Service, (NINAS), Dr. Lawrence Okoro, said they have had previous experience with accreditation and about 75 per cent of them had accreditation on other things but they were unable to apply for scopes that are related to food fortification and food safety for obvious reasons: the infrastructure, the resources for these accreditation were not fully available. “So the intervention by GAIN is a sort of paradigm shift in the accreditation landscape for Nigeria, yes NINAS had the capacity but the laboratories lack all the necessary requirements to meet the accreditation standards, GAIN intervention changes this”. .
The Deputy Director, Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Mrs. Talatu Ethan, said “this accreditation is a boost for Nigerian staple foods.”
“NAFDAC is one of the laboratories that are being accredited today, this will give a lot of positive impact to the products going out of this country, because they will be of high quality. The acceptance of Nigerian products will increase with the accreditation” said the representative, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Dr. Charles Nwachukwu
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