Vegetable Oil, Salt Fortification: NAFDAC’s Testing Capacity Under Spotlight

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) is facing questions over the enforcement of mandatory food fortification standards following concerns about the nutritional quality of vegetable oil and salt sold in Nigerian markets.

The questions centre on the agency’s regulatory surveillance, enforcement of existing food fortification regulations and sanctions against manufacturers whose products fail to meet prescribed nutritional requirements.

This follows findings by the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), which, in collaboration with the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), identified inadequate fortification in some vegetable oil and salt samples collected from markets and households across the country.

The FCCPC said it had forwarded the findings to NAFDAC for further regulatory action, bringing renewed attention to the agency’s responsibility to ensure that food manufacturers comply with established fortification standards.

Under NAFDAC’s Fats and Oils Regulations, 2019, manufacturers, importers and distributors are prohibited from selling specified vegetable oils in Nigeria unless they are fortified with Vitamin A to a level not below 20,000 International Units per kilogramme.

The regulations also prohibit the manufacture, packaging, importation, distribution and sale of specified packaged fats and oils without registration.

Similarly, NAFDAC’s Food Fortification Regulations provide for the fortification of food products with essential micronutrients, with provisions addressing packaging requirements to preserve the quality and effectiveness of added fortificants.

The regulations prescribe penalties for individuals and corporate bodies that contravene their provisions.

An individual found guilty of an offence under the regulations is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year or a fine not exceeding N50,000, or both, while a corporate body is liable to a fine not exceeding N100,000.

The regulations further provide for the forfeiture of assets or property derived from or used to facilitate the commission of an offence.

However, questions remain about the extent to which these provisions have been enforced against manufacturers that fail to meet the mandatory fortification requirements.

NAFDAC had, in October 2023, defended its capacity to monitor compliance with food fortification standards, dismissing reports alleging that it had not established laboratories for testing fortified food products.

In a statement issued by its Resident Media Consultant, Olusayo Akintola, the agency said it had laboratories equipped for micronutrient analysis and had been conducting annual food fortification surveys in Nigeria.

Akintola disclosed that the agency’s Central Food Laboratory had internationally accredited micronutrient laboratory units equipped with modern analytical equipment for testing vitamins and minerals in food products.

He said the vitamin testing unit analysed fat-soluble vitamins, including Vitamin A, and water-soluble vitamins such as thiamine, riboflavin, biotin, pyridoxine hydrochloride, cyanocobalamin and folate.

According to him, the laboratory was equipped with High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC), while its metal unit had Atomic Absorption Spectrometer (AAS), Inductively Coupled Plasma-Optical Emission Spectrometer (ICP-OES) and Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometer (ICP-MS).

He further disclosed that NAFDAC’s Central Food Laboratory, alongside other laboratories across the country, handled more than 10,000 fortified food samples during the 2023 Food Fortification Survey.

Akintola said the results were presented to the National Fortification Alliance, which comprises representatives of food industries, government and regulatory agencies, as well as development partners.

The agency also maintained that its laboratory testing operations were conducted in-house and that it had not contracted the analysis of micronutrients or other parameters of its regulated products to private laboratories since Professor Mojisola Adeyeye assumed office as Director-General.

The FCCPC findings have, however, raised questions about the outcome of NAFDAC’s subsequent surveillance exercises, particularly the compliance levels recorded among vegetable oil and salt manufacturers.

Large-scale food fortification is an important public health intervention designed to address micronutrient deficiencies by adding essential vitamins and minerals to commonly consumed foods during production.

Vitamin A deficiency can contribute to impaired vision, increased susceptibility to infections and other health complications, particularly among children and pregnant women. Iodine deficiency, which salt iodisation is designed to prevent, can also affect normal growth and brain development.

The development underscores the importance of effective regulatory monitoring to ensure that consumers receive the nutritional benefits expected from fortified food products.

Efforts to obtain NAFDAC’s response to the latest FCCPC findings, including its position on the referral, the outcome of its recent food fortification surveys and possible enforcement measures against manufacturers found wanting, were ongoing as of the time of filing this report.