EDIDIONG IKPOTO examines the poor regulations of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control in light of the controversy surrounding the supply of alleged cancerous noodles to the Nigerian market
On Saturday, April 29, Indofoods, makers of Indomie instant noodles issued a rejoinder in reaction to the recall of its products in Taiwan and Malaysia over an increased cancer risk.
Health officials in Malaysia and Taiwan said they had detected ethylene oxide, a compound, in Indomie’s “special chicken” flavour noodles.
It is not every day that what happens in Malaysia or Taiwan makes headlines in Nigeria; but, for particularly obvious reasons, this news came with riveting interest for Nigerians, many of whom wondered why the local regulatory agency was unable to detect this looming danger.
According to the Malaysian health ministry, 36 samples of instant noodles from different brands had been examined since 2022. It was discovered that 11 samples contained ethylene oxide.
The ministry said it had taken enforcement actions and recalled the affected products. It is unclear if other brands were implicated.
The development came hours after the Department of Health in Taipei, Taiwan’s capital, said it detected ethylene oxide in two types of instant noodles, including the Indomie Chicken Flavour, following random inspections.
“The detection of ethylene oxide in the product did not comply with (standards),” the department said in a statement.
“Businesses have been ordered to immediately remove them from their shelves.”
That this development took place more than 10,000 miles away in Southeast Asia was not enough to make it lose relevance in the country, Nigeria is one of the highest consumers of Indomie instant noodles.
According to a 2019 CNN report, Nigeria has become the 12th largest instant noodle market in the world, where locals consume 1.76 billion servings of noodles annually.
While there are currently 16 brands battling for customers’ attention, according to the 2017 Kantar WorldPanel report, Indomie leads the Nigerian market.
Indomie is an Indonesian company that entered into a partnership with Tolaram Group in Nigeria.
The instant noodle was introduced to Nigeria in 1988 through export, and in 1995, the company opened its first production factory in the country. Today, the brand has become the noodle of choice for many Nigerians.
While the company’s three factories in Nigeria in Ogun, Port Harcourt and Kaduna States produce eight million packets of noodles daily, Tolaram Group said its northern factory was the largest and most advanced.
In the wake of the alarm raised by Malaysian and Taiwanese health authorities, the company issued a statement, insisting that its noodles were produced according to safety standards.
A member of the board of directors at Indofoods, Taufik Wiraatmadja in a statement issued on Friday said the product was completely safe for consumption.
Wiraatmadja said the noodles had received standard certifications and had been produced in compliance with international food safety regulations.
The statement read in part, “Following the media reports in Taiwan on 24th April 2023 regarding the detection of ethylene oxide (“EtO”) in the Ah Lai White Curry Noodles from Malaysia and seasoning of Indomie Special Chicken Flavour, PT Indofood CBP Sukses Makmur Tbk (“ICBP” or the “Company”) as a subsidiary of PT Indofood Sukses Makmur Tbk wishes to provide explanation regarding Indomie, as follows.
“All instant noodles produced by ICBP in Indonesia are processed in compliance with the food safety standards from the Codex Standard for Instant Noodles and standards set by the Indonesian National Agency for Drug and Food Control (“BPOM RI”). Our instant noodles have received Indonesian National Standard Certification (SNI), and are produced in certified production facilities based on international standards.
“ICBP has exported instant noodles to various countries around the world for more than 30 years. The Company continuously ensures that all of its products are in compliance with the applicable food safety regulations and guidelines in Indonesia as well as other countries where ICBP’s instant noodles are marketed.”
According to the firm, in accordance with the statement released by BPOM RI, its Indomie instant noodles are safe for consumption.
Reacting, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control in Nigeria said it will commence the random sampling of Indomie noodles, including the seasoning from the production facilities and the markets beginning Tuesday, May 2.
also said the importation of Indomie noodles into Nigeria had been banned for many years and it was on the prohibition list.
Speaking with The PUNCH, NAFDAC Director-General, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, said the agency had started investigating and responding immediately to the news of the recalled Indomie noodles by Taiwan and Malaysia authorities.
She said, “Tuesday, May 2, 2023, NAFDAC’s Food Safety and Applied Nutrition Directorate will randomly sample Indomie noodles (including the seasoning) from the production facilities while Post Marketing Surveillance Directorate samples from the markets. The compound of interest is ethylene oxide, so, the director of Food Lab Services Directorate has been engaged. He is working on the methodology for the analysis.
“It should be noted that Indomie noodles have been banned from being imported into the country for many years. It is one of the foods on the government prohibition list. It is not allowed in Nigeria, and therefore not registered by NAFDAC.
“What we are doing is an extra caution to ensure that the product is not smuggled in and if so, our post-marketing surveillance would detect it. We also want to be sure that the spices used for the Indomie and other noodles in Nigeria are tested. That is what NAFDAC Food Safety and Applied Nutrition and Post Marketing Surveillance are doing this week at the production facilities and in the market respectively.”
For many Nigerians, this development sounded like music to their ears. They have argued that the essence of having a regulatory apparatus in place was to preempt danger, to nip possible fatalities in the bud by fishing out shoddy practitioners looking to shortchange the system with sharp practices.
They wondered why the country’s regulatory agencies only seem to wake up after the damage had been done.
“Very little is done with regard to taking the canary to the coal mine to sniff out danger. As a matter of fact, what seems more baffling is the fact that in an attempt to provide clarity on these damning oversight failures, these agencies end up indicting themselves,” a source who preferred to be anonymous noted.
According to him, if the importation of Indomie had been banned for years, why was there no crackdown against those in defiance of this ban?
He claimed it was similar to a building control agency claiming that a collapsed skyscraper had no approval from the necessary authorities, “How come they were allowed to continue construction work without being shut down and prosecuted for breaking the law?”, he queried.
Ethylene oxide is a colourless, odourless gas that is used to sterilise medical devices and spices and has been associated with a cancer-causing chemical.
The National Cancer Institute explained, “It is used primarily to produce other chemicals, including antifreeze. In smaller amounts, ethylene oxide is used as a pesticide and a sterilising agent. The ability of ethylene oxide to damage DNA makes it an effective sterilising agent but also accounts for its cancer-causing activity.”
Multiple studies have shown that EO increases the risk of several types of cancer. The chemical was classified as a human carcinogen in 2016. Despite its toxicity, the chemical is still widely used.
Ethylene oxide can kill most viruses, bacteria, bacteria spores and fungi. It kills microorganisms by ripping apart cell membranes. Because of this property, manufacturers often use EO to disinfect dry foods like spices and grains as well as medical devices and supplies like knee implants, catheters, syringes and surgical kits.
Lymphoma and leukaemia are the cancers most frequently reported to be associated with occupational exposure to ethylene oxide. Stomach and breast cancers may also be associated with ethylene oxide exposure.
Nigeria has one of the highest cancer mortality rates in the world, with an estimated 72,000 cancer deaths occurring annually and 102,000 new cases diagnosed from its population of 200 million people, according to a report in Frontiers in Oncology.
The incidence of cancer has been increasing in most regions of the world, but there are huge inequalities between developed and developing countries like Nigeria. Incidence rates remain highest in more developed regions, but mortality is relatively much higher in less developed countries due to a lack of early detection and access to treatment facilities.
According to a survey report by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, In January 2023 alone, Nigeria recorded over 10,000 new cancer cases and 7,000 deaths. Going by this trajectory, cancer-related deaths in the country would have spiked to at least 84,000 fatalities by the end of 2023.
