The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) says the body has gazetted the reviewed Fats, Oil and Food containing Fats and Oil Regulation 2022 in a bid to safeguard the health of Nigerians.

Mojisola Adeyeye, the director-general of NAFDAC, who made this known in a briefing in Lagos on Monday, said the agency also gazetted Pre-Packaged Food Labelling Regulation 2022.

“NAFDAC gazetted two regulations on fat and oil to determine the minimal amount allowable in foods to safeguard the health of Nigerians,” Ms Adeyeye said.

She added, “We also have the labelling gazette that will show the quantity of milligrammes of fat and oil in our food.”

She said implementing the regulations would be strictly carried out to yield the expected result.

Ms Adeyeye said the development was in line with the 2018 World Health Assembly in Geneva to eliminate industrially-produced Trans Fatty Acids (TFAs) from global food supplies to reduce Non-communicable Diseases(NCDs) globally.

“The emergence of these two reviewed regulations implies that the 2005 versions of these two regulations stand as repealed regulations without jeopardy from whatever was purportedly done.

“WHO has recommended one of these two policy pathways for implementation by banning the use of partially hydrogenated oils, that is, the source of industrially produced TFAs, in all foods.

“Setting limits on the amount of industrially produced TFAs not to be more than two per cent of the total fat content in all Foods.”

According to her, the World Health Organisation (WHO) statistics indicate that NCDs, including heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes, and chronic lung disease, are collectively responsible for 74 per cent of all deaths worldwide.

She said in Nigeria, NCDs were estimated to account for about a quarter of total deaths, noting that the probability of dying between ages 30 & 70 years from the main NCDs is 20 per cent.

The director general said the agency in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Health, Federal Ministry of Justice and the Trans-Fat Coalition Partners in Nigeria, had worked assiduously to achieve the two-prong pathways.

She said other partners included Global Health Advocacy Incubator (GHAI), Network for Health Equity and Development (NHED), and Corporate Accountability & Public Participation Africa (CAPPA).

Atanda John, the Director of Food Safety and Quality at the Federal Ministry of Health, said the ministry would develop a policy to support the reviews carried out by NAFDAC.

Mr John said the regulations, which were to safeguard the health of Nigerians, would also be backed up by law.

Speaking also, Jerome Mateni, a representative of NHED, said the regulations would positively impact the health of Nigerians.

(NAN)