The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has denied reports that it banned Indomie instant noodles.
The rebuttal followed reports that health officials in Malaysia and Taiwan claimed they detected ethylene oxide (a carcinogenic substance responsible for lymphoid and breast cancer) in Indomie instant noodles.
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The Ministry of Health of Malaysia (MOH) had reportedly issued a directive to hold, test and release the Indomie Special Chicken Flavour instant noodles products from Malaysia at all entry points of the country.
However, the Director-General of the health agency, Professor Mojisola Adeyeye, has asked consumers not to fret over the South-Asia countries’ preemptive measures
Adeyeye assured consumers of Indomie that the product is safe for consumption.
“NAFDAC did not ban Indomie. Indomie has been on the government prohibition list for many years to encourage local manufacturing,” Professor Adeyeye told Channels Television on Monday.
She also disclosed that the body has countermeasures to prevent the importation of these products from affected nations
“NAFDAC has registered several local manufacturers and the Indomie noodles have been safe. The Taiwan and Malaysia noodles have nothing to do with our local producers,” she said.
Adeyeye, however, said NAFDAC was in no way disregarding the reports but responding to “the news as a cautionary post-marketing monitoring measure to ensure that locally-made noodles stay safe.”
She also said NAFDAC will begin random sampling of Indomie noodles, including the seasoning, from the production facilities to ascertain their safety levels for consumption.