The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), has closed down no fewer than 10 substandard and unregistered bakeries and eight table water factories in Bonny Local Government Area of Rivers State.
This announcement was public in a statement issued on Tuesday in Port Harcourt by NAFDAC’s Public Relations Officer, South-South Zone, Cyril Monye.
NAFDAC explained that the move is to flush out Rivers State of fake and unwholesome products.
According to Monye, security operatives from Finima and Bonny Divisional Headquarters provided security to NAFDAC officials during the three-day operation.
The statement which quoted the NAFDAC Director, South-South Zone, Chukwuma Oligbo, said: “The move became necessary following the agency’s painstaking investigations, surveillance and consumers complaints emanating from the Island concerning substandard bakeries and sachet/table water factories.
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“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 agency said the breads in the bakeries were stored in a very unhygienic manner, adding that some bakeries also bear the names of popular breads in Port Harcourt.
“Most of the bakeries were not registered by NAFDAC and unregisterable because they cannot meet the minimum requirement for registration, while few that were registered by the agency have expired licenses 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,” it added.
On the table water factories, Oligbo said some of the factories producing sachet water were not using filtration equipment and a facility, while production of bottled and jar water was manually filled in the jars with a locally improvised machine instead of an automated process.
The zonal director further urged those who are in default of their product license renewal to use the waiver thoughtfully from January to March and renew their licenses.
NAFDAC last Wednesday revealed that it closed down two sachet water factories in Aluu, Ikwerre Local Government Area of the state as a result of the production of untreated and unregistered sachet water, following credible information received about their activities.