NAFDAC partners inspection agents to tackle Nigerian food rejection abroad

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has collaborated with pre-shipment inspection agents to reduce…

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has collaborated with pre-shipment inspection agents to reduce the rejection of Nigerian food products abroad.

The Director General of the agency, Prof Mojisola Adeyeye, who also heads the Office of Trade and International Relations (OTIR), decried the alarming rate of rejection of food exports from Nigeria at a consultative meeting with pre-shipment inspection agents.

According to a statement from NAFDAC yesterday, the DG who was represented by the Director, Port Inspection Directorate (PID), Dr Abimbola Adegboye, said addressing the menace would put the country in a better state in the global market.

Adeyeye emphasised the position of export as a major aspect of building every country’s economy, saying that in 2021, Nigeria exported $57.7 billion goods, making it the world’s 52nd most exporting country.

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She said that a huge volume of Nigeria’s exported agricultural commodities were often rejected by the European Union for not meeting required standards, adding that EU countries seized about 82% of Nigeria’s agricultural products exported illegally.   She said that Cocoa beans, sesame seeds, cashew and several other products top the list of agricultural commodities Nigeria exported within the first nine months of 2022, generating N427.6 billion or $1.02 billion.

She listed defective packaging and inadequate labelling, non-documentation, unauthorised transition, illegal importation, and non-compliance to destination markets standards as some of the reasons for rejecting the products.