NAFDAC Seals Chinese Supermarket in Abuja Over Regulatory Violations

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) sealed a Chinese supermarket today, January 6, for allegedly selling goods labelled in Chinese without proper notification.

Speaking with newsmen after the exercise, NAFDAC’s Director of Investigation and Enforcement, Shaba Mohammed, said that the agency received ‘credible information’ about the supermarket situated at Azba Mall, 2 Durban Street, Wuse 2, Abuja. According to Mohammed, the intel received indicated that all the items being sold at the supermarket were labelled in Chinese, a situation that violated NAFDAC regulations.

Mohammed, also the Chairman of the Federal Task Force on Counterfeit, Fake Drugs, and Unwholesome Processed Foods with the agency, said that upon getting the information, NAFDAC quickly acted to determine the situation.

He said that the agency would investigate why over 90 per cent of the goods in the supermarket were labelled in a foreign language and how they got into the country.

The director also said that some of the affected goods had expired but were still on the supermarket’s shelves.

“The supermarket was sealed for violating NAFDAC regulations; an investigation will surely go on about this supermarket; we will also need to go to its warehouse to stop them from selling some products. All the information about this supermarket goes to us; if we had known the information from the beginning, we would have taken the regulatory action we just took against it now.

“Selling items in a foreign language in a country is a violation of our law; if you must sell anything in Arabic, Chinese, or French, you must have an English translation.

“More than 90% of the goods sold in the supermarket are in Chinese language. You might find some Nigerians patronising the supermarket; they should be able to read about some items on the shelves.

“Some of these items have also expired. Even if they give the global listing to import, they should be in English. This supermarket cannot present a document through which the items were approved in a foreign language to NAFDAC. This is not acceptable, and that is why we have to seal the supermarket; we will invite the owner for further investigation before we can conclude the case,” he said

The director said that if the supermarket was found culpable of violating NAFDAC regulations, it would be punished.

“It is not every case we charge to court; we will take regulatory action against the supermarket, which may be administrative.

“Before NAFDAC gives any certification, it would have visited the site/shop for goods storage and distribution practice.

“Upon its visit, NAFDAC will ensure that the facilities follow NAFDAC regulations,” he said.

Mohammed also stated that the supermarket might have bypassed NAFDAC in bringing some of the goods into the country.

“NAFDAC will not see all these items at the port with every description in a foreign language and allow them in; they would have been intercepted immediately,” he said.

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