On Thursday, the Sheik Gumi Market in Kaduna was the target of a raid by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), which resulted in the seizure of expired and unregistered tomato paste worth more than N2 million.
According to NAN, 75 cartons of expired and unregistered tomato paste from a variety of brands were seized from 16 market shops.
According to Tamanuwa Andrew, Deputy Director of the Investigation and Enforcement Directorate of NAFDAC’s Kaduna Office, the raid was in accordance with the Federal Government’s 2019 ban on tomato paste imports.
He stated that the Agency had been conducting raids on unregistered and prohibited tomato paste in all of the country’s markets ever since the import ban on tin tomato paste.
“The Director of Investigation and Enforcement held a press briefing on the raid that was carried out in the state alone in September 2022 in Lagos, where over 3,000 cartons of unregistered tin tomatoes were confiscated from open and super markets and shops.”
Andrew said that NAFDAC would continue to do its job and not back down from its responsibilities to keep the country healthy.
He made the revelation that their surveillance had revealed that open supermarkets and provision stores were still illegally importing prohibited tomato paste, which he characterized as a setback for the economy and local manufacturers.
He stated, “We are also not willing to stop going after them until we rid our markets of such products.” He added, “Since those unpatriotic Nigerians are not willing to stop smuggling those banned items.”