The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has sealed three factories in Ogun State for allegedly producing sachet and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottled alcoholic drinks below 200ml, which are prohibited under existing regulatory directives.
Assistant Director in NAFDAC’s Investigation and Enforcement Directorate, Kunle Ojo, disclosed this to journalists on Monday, saying the enforcement followed continued production of alcoholic beverages in banned packaging.
The operation was carried out in the Sango-Ota and Idi-Iroko areas of the state.
Ojo identified the sealed factories as Intercontinental Distilleries Ltd., Shashi Distillery Ltd. and an undisclosed facility belonging to Nigeria Distillery Ltd.
He said the undisclosed Nigeria Distillery facility was uncovered through intelligence gathered during the second phase of NAFDAC’s nationwide enforcement of the Federal Government’s ban on sachet and sub-200ml PET bottled alcoholic drinks.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that NAFDAC began enforcing the ban in January.
Ojo said officials had earlier visited Nigeria Distillery Ltd.’s facility at kilometre 14, Idi-Iroko Road, but found no evidence of the prohibited activities. However, following intelligence received on 24 July, the agency discovered another undisclosed facility belonging to the company where banned products were being manufactured.
He described the discovery as alarming, saying NAFDAC officials found large quantities of 100ml alcoholic bottles, sachet packaging materials and sachet alcohol still being produced on machines at the facility.
“We discovered uncountable 100ml alcoholic bottles, packaging materials for sachets and already producing sachet alcohol still on production machines at the facility.
“We also noticed today that after sealing the factory, some of the items we found on Friday are missing. This is a serious violation and it will be dealt with administratively,” Ojo said.
He added that NAFDAC had previously visited Intercontinental Distilleries and Shashi Distillery in January, where it halted the use of 22 machines producing sachet alcoholic drinks and removed packaging materials for alcoholic beverages below 200ml.
According to him, during another inspection on 24 July, the agency discovered old packaging materials for prohibited alcoholic products at the two factories, prompting the decision to seal the facilities.
“When we came in last week, we discovered old packaging materials and those machines we placed on hold were producing the banned products again.
“This is exactly why we decided to close down the entire factory because what NAFDAC said they should not produce, they are secretly producing,” he said.
Ojo said the agency would intensify efforts to rid the country of banned alcoholic products in order to protect public health.
He urged members of the public to report suspicious production of prohibited alcoholic beverages to the nearest NAFDAC office.
