The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has warned that poorly destroyed expired or stolen products from food manufacturers are sneaking into the markets through scavengers.

In a statement in Lagos on Sunday, the agency said such practice was unacceptable as it endangered the lives of innocent consumers.

The agency’s director-general, Mojisola Adeyeye, made this known at its Food Safety and Applied Nutrition Directorate Stakeholders Engagement with food sector operators in Lagos.

Ms Adeyeye warned Nigerians against patronising and consuming unbranded cereals in the open market.

“We cannot speak to the safety of unbranded foods in the open market because we don’t know where they come from; their expiry date cannot be traced,” she said.

According to Ms Adeyeye, in 2021 and 2022, the agency carried out investigation and enforcement activities on unbranded cereals, leading to the arrest of people selling online in Onitsha and bringing them to Lagos.

She said the investigation revealed that people preferred to buy the unbranded product despite its inherent dangers.

“We considered the circumstances and the packaging and couldn’t really understand whether it was cheaper.

“We found out that the smallest packages of cereals were also removed from the packaging materials and also sold in bulk online,” the statement quoted Ms Adeyeye as saying.

The NAFDAC boss also stated that some industries were part of the problem through their poor disposal process.

She said some products were stolen from the companies’ warehouses, and others were picked up from dumpsites in Agbara and sold to the public.

“Our investigations revealed that the products were disposed of through Ogun State Waste Management Authority. The disposal methods of companies are also an issue.

“If you want to dispose of some bad or expired products, you should destroy them through NAFDAC Investigation and Enforcement Directorate, not by the company directly through waste disposal authorities,” she said.

Ms Adeyeye, however, called for the investigation and prosecution of those who took the products from the dump site for sale.

She urged manufacturers of food products to always be more concerned about their products in the market by establishing post-market surveillance units in their companies.

The NAFDAC boss added that companies without post-marketing surveillance or Post Marketing Pharmacovigilance for drug manufacturing companies would be denied their products’ renewal.

(NAN)