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Dangote Salt has said it would collaborate with the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) to sanitize the Nigerian food market and eliminate unscrupulous traders who sell fake and substandard products.

Paul Ferrer, Managing Director of NASCON Allied Industries PLC (National Salt Company of Nigeria PLC) – the producer of Dangote Salt – and Chief Corporate Communication Officer of Dangote Group, Anthony Chiejina, stated this during a courtesy visit to the office of NAFDAC's Acting Director-General, Yetunde Oni, in Lagos.  

Ferrer commended NAFDAC’s efforts in getting rid of substandard products and sanitising the nation’s food market. He, however, said it has been observed that some shady individuals are violating the agency’s directives with respect to the packaging of industrial salts. Ferrer said industrial salts are being packaged and sold in quantities as small as 5-20kg, in contravention of NAFDAC’s directive of selling industrial salts in 50kg packaging.

The NASCON Allied Industries boss said making industrial salts available in smaller quantities is dangerous because unsuspecting consumers may easily purchase industrial salts for consumption instead of iodised salts. While the latter is meant for human consumption, the former is not.

The NAFDAC Acting DG thanked the delegation for its confidence in the agency’s work. She advised companies in the food sector to create Post-Market Surveillance (PMS) units in their establishments for self-regulation of the market, in order to make enforcement easier for NAFDAC.

“The establishment of the PMS unit is the way to go, to actually tackle this menace. The value chain has to be monitored,” she said.

NAFDAC and NASCON Allied Industries agreed to work closely to monitor the quality of products produced by manufacturers and what is supplied to the markets. The agency’s boss also called on food manufacturers to assist in equipping NAFDAC’s laboratories and provide vehicles to boost its operations and make the agency more effective.

NASCON Allied Industries, which was incorporated in 1973 and privatized in 1982, controls more than 60% of the market.