Stop mixing Azo-dyes with palm oil, NAFDAC warns
The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control has warned Nigerians against mixing Azo-dyes with palm oil.
The Director-General of the agency, Prof. Moji Adeyeye, at a sensitization in Lagos on Tuesday, said mixing Azo-dye with palm oil could increase the risk of cancer.
Adeyeye, who was represented by the Director, Ports Inspection, NAFDAC, Prof. Samson Adebayo, said the Agency had embarked on sensitization in eight states of the federation.
She said, “Public awareness campaign is one of the veritable regulatory mechanisms put in place by NAFDAC to promote and protect the health of our people. A well-informed, sensitized and educated citizenry is the bedrock of effective regulation.
“This is while today’s event is another milestone in our bid to protect Nigerians against deleterious effect of unwholesome food, falsified medical products, harmful cosmetics and other substandard related products”.
The NAFDAC DG added that the objective of the sensitization was to intensify and expand the scope of the Agency’s informal and formal behaviour change communication strategies in order to reach the vulnerable communities.
“There is need to equally warn Nigerians against the use of Azo-dyes in palm oil which causes cancer, dangers of using sniper to preserve any kind of food or to keep flies away from meat, the dangers of trans-fat and consumption of excessive oil.
“People must be warned against the use of formalin for food and its associated health hazards, dangers of wrong use of pesticides and insecticides, wrong use of chemicals and its hazardous effects and problem of antimicrobial resistance arising from animal meat”.
