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Reasons NAFDAC shuts 10 bakeries, 8 water factories in Rivers

Published by Fakinlede Tope John on March 13th, 2024.

Reasons NAFDAC shuts 10 bakeries, 8 water factories in Rivers

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, on Tuesday, said its officials shut 10 unregistered bakeries and eight table water factories in the Bonny Local Government Area of Rivers State.

The agency said the move was to rid the state of fake and unwholesome products.

It explained that the factories were shut down during an operation conducted over three days with the assistance of policemen.

NAFDAC’s Public Relations Officer, South-South Zone, Mr. Cyril Monye, disclosed this in a statement on Tuesday.

Monye said some of the factories operated in an unhygienic environment, in addition to carrying the names of popular brands in Port Harcourt, the state capital.

He said, “In an unprecedented move to rid Rivers State of fake and unwholesome products, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control stormed Bonny Island in Bonny Island, Local Government Area of Rivers State shutting down 10 substandard/unregistered bakeries and eight table water factories.

“A detachment of policemen from Finima and Bonny Divisional Headquarters provided assistance and security to NAFDAC officials during the three-day operation.”

Speaking during the operation, NAFDAC Director, South-South Zone, Chukwuma Oligbo, explained that the move became necessary following the agency’s painstaking investigations/surveillance and complaints by consumers from the Island concerning substandard bakeries and sachet/table water factories.

Oligbo stated, “It was discovered that some of the quack bakeries were producing in ramshackle facilities made with woods and rusty corrugated iron sheets with inappropriate baking equipment while the workers were not properly kitted.

“The loaves of bread were stored in a very unhygienic manner with flies perching on them. Some of the bakeries also bear the names of popular brands in Port Harcourt.

Most of the bakeries were not registered by NAFDAC and are unregistrable because they cannot meet the minimum requirement for registration, while a few that were registered by the agency have expired licences or have relocated from their initial place of registration in Port Harcourt to Bonny Island without notifying the agency for formal documentation and mandatory inspections.”

He said some of the table water factories had no filtration equipment and manually filled jars with a locally improvised machine instead of an automated process, which was the acceptable standard recommended by NAFDAC.