Winifred Bosa.

Arising from the recent court judgement on the case filed by Fijabi Holdings and another versus Nigeria Bottling Company and NAFDAC (joined as a nominal party), the Hon. Minister of Health summoned a meeting of the Department of Food and Drug Services, Federal Ministry of Health, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) to address the related issues.

At the meeting , they posited that  Coca-Cola products manufactured in Nigeria are safe for consumption and also observed that the claimant did not obtain NAFDAC certification before export, otherwise, he would have been advised on the required standard of the destination country.

It would be recalled that recently , in  a suit involving Fijabi Adebo Holdings Limited & Dr. Emmanuel Fijabi Adebo v.  Nigerian Bottling Company Limited (NBC) & National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), it was alleged that Fijabi Adebo Holdings Company purchased from NBC large quantities of Coca-Cola, Fanta Orange, Sprite, Fanta Lemon, Fanta Pineapple and Soda Water for export to the United Kingdom for retail purposes and supply to their customers in UK.

The consignment of the soft drinks arrived UK but due to the irregularities and high presence of benzoic acid in the soft drinks which can cause cancer to the consumer, the claimants could not sell the Fanta and Sprite products resulting in appreciable losses, as they were certified unsuitable for consumption and were seized and destroyed by the UK health authorities.

Hence ,the judgement of the Lagos High Court to order the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) to mandate the Nigeria Bottling Company (NBC) Plc to include on all bottles of Fanta and Sprite soft drinks manufactured by the company a written warning that the content of the said bottles of soft drinks cannot be taken with Vitamin C.

However, as was contained in a press statement from the ministry of health , the findings of the experts are as follows:

That Both Benzoic acid and Ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) are ingredients approved by International Food Safety regulators and used in many food and beverage products around the world.

That,  Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) is the organ established by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and World Health Organization (WHO) to set internationally recognized standards, codes of practice, guidelines relating to foods, food production, and food safety.

In the case of Benzoic acid, they explained that  standard set by Codex was 600mg/kg until recently reviewed to 250mg/kg and adopted in 2016. (CODEX STAN 192-1995 revised 2015 and 2016).

With reference to the Codex standard and other relevant documents, Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) as the standard setting body in Nigeria in consultation with technical experts and relevant stakeholders elaborated the standard of benzoic acid in soft drinks to be at 250mg/kg based on the National climatic and storage conditions.

The levels of benzoic acid in Fanta (1 batch) and Sprite (2 batches) presented by the claimant in the court are 188.64mg/kg, 201.06mg/kg and 161.5mg/kg respectively.

The meeting assured that Coca-Cola products manufactured in Nigeria are safe for consumption in view of the following reasons:

Risk assessment was conducted to ascertain maximum limits of food additives acceptable in foods. And this takes into consideration the environmental, storage and distribution conditions as well as the shelf life of food products.

NAFDAC and SON regularly monitor the manufacturing practices of Food industries and conduct laboratory analysis to ascertain continuous compliance with required national standards.

There was a routine inspection conducted at Nigeria Bottling Company by NAFDAC officers in December, 2016 which was satisfactory.

On the difference between the standard of Fanta and Sprite in Nigeria and the United Kingdom , the experts noted that with reference to the Codex standards, each country or region is permitted to adapt a standard/limit based on country specific scientific evidence such as environmental, storage and distribution conditions.

They futher explained that Benzoic acid as a preservative prevents the growth of microorganisms which thrive more at higher climatic temperatures like in Nigeria and due to the different environmental conditions obtainable in the UK, the standard for benzoic acid was set at a lower limit of 150mg/kg while in Nigeria it was set at 250mg/kg even below that of Codex (as at time of production of that batch; Codex limit was 600mgkg).

It was also revealed that this claimant did not obtain NAFDAC certification before export, otherwise, he would have been advised on the required standard of the destination country.

In addition,   Nigerians are thereby advised to  take medicines with potable water for this they stressed would help to prevent unexpected drug-food interactions, while the bottling companies are encouraged to insert advisory warnings on all products as necessary.