The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has sealed three factories in Ogun State for allegedly producing banned sachet alcohol and alcoholic drinks packaged in PET bottles below 200ml.
An Assistant Director in NAFDAC’s Investigation and Enforcement Directorate, Kunle Ojo, disclosed this on Monday, saying the enforcement followed the continued production of alcoholic beverages in packaging prohibited under existing regulatory directives.
The enforcement exercise was carried out in the Sango-Ota and Idi-Iroko areas of the state.
According to Ojo, the affected factories are Intercontinental Distilleries Ltd., Shashi Distillery Ltd. and an undisclosed facility owned by Nigeria Distillery Ltd.
He said the undisclosed factory was uncovered through intelligence gathered during the agency’s ongoing second phase of nationwide enforcement of the Federal Government’s ban on sachet alcohol and alcoholic drinks packaged in PET bottles below 200ml.
Ojo explained that officials had earlier inspected Nigeria Distillery Ltd. located at Kilometre 14, Idi-Iroko Road, but found no evidence of violations until an intelligence report led them to the hidden facility on July 24.
He said prohibited packaging materials for alcoholic beverages in PET bottles below 200ml and sachet nylon were recovered at the factory.
“We discovered uncountable 100ml alcoholic bottles, packaging materials for sachets and already producing sachet alcohol still on production machines at the facility.
“We also noticed today that after sealing the factory some of the items we found on Friday are missing, this is a serious violation and it will be dealt with administratively,” Ojo said.
He added that NAFDAC had previously visited Intercontinental Distilleries and Shashi Distillery in January, where it halted the operation of 22 machines used to produce sachet alcoholic drinks and evacuated packaging materials for alcoholic beverages below 200ml.
According to him, officials returned to the factories on July 24 and discovered that the old packaging materials were still being used to produce the banned products.
“When we came in last week, we discovered old packaging materials and those machines we placed on hold were producing the banned products again.
“This is exactly why we decided to close down the entire factory because what NAFDAC said they should not produce, they are secretly producing,” he said.
Ojo said the agency would continue to intensify enforcement efforts to rid the country of banned products and protect public health.
He also urged Nigerians to report any suspected production of banned alcoholic products to the nearest NAFDAC office.
