The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) in Osun on Monday said it would no longer allow producers to sell unregistered sachet water in the state.
NAFDAC`s State Director, Kayode Fagboyo, said that the agency had been receiving complaints from residents over the poor quality of sachet water being sold in the state.
Fagboyo said based on the complaints, the agency conducted a field survey which revealed that many of the sachet water producers do not follow NAFDAC’s standard procedure.
He said the agency also discovered that many of the sachet water producers with NAFDAC’s approved numbers were no longer working under the conditions in place when their factories were approved.
“Through our field survey, we have discovered that many of the factories are no longer producing sachet water under the condition that made us to grant them the approval to produce from the beginning.
“But we have made it clear to them, we will be visiting their factories once in a month unannounced.
`”Any factory we get to and find out that the conditions which existed when the approval was given was no longer in place, we will withdraw the approval and appropriate sanctions will be imposed,’’ he said.
The NAFDAC chief noted that the agency had also resolved that no unregistered sachet water would be allowed for sale in the state.
“What we did in 2013 was to appeal to the conscience of sachet water producers in the state through a workshop we organised for them on the need to strictly adhere to production standards.
“But henceforth, any person caught selling sachet water without NAFDAC approved registration number will be made to face the wrath of the law.
“What we are doing at the moment is to make sure that the sachet water producers comply sufficiently with the regulations of the agency.
“Our mandate is to protect and not only to protect, but to also safeguard the health of the citizenry and the agency will never relent in ensuring that,’’ he said.