The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has stated that the alleged Nido infant milk formula, which is said to contain excess sugar or honey, is not registered in Nigeria, is not known to the agency, and is not in circulation. This comes after an investigative documentary aired on Al-Jazeera, an international cable network, which accused Nestle of adding excessive sugar to its NIDO Infant Formula and selling it to poorer countries like Africa.
NAFDAC’s Director General, Prof. Christiana Adeyeye, in a presser tagged “Nestle Adds Sugar to Infant Milk Sold in Poorer Countries: NAFDAC’s Response”, Adeyeye explained that the range of Nestle Cerelac infant cereals distributed in Nigeria was duly registered with NAFDAC in line with the Nigerian Industrial Standard for Foods for Infants and Young Children – Processed Cereal Based foods (NIS 256:2010) and the Codex Standard for Processed Cereal-based Foods for Infants and Young Children (CXS 74-1981 adopted in 1981, revised in 2006, amended in 2017, 2019, and 2023), as well as the applicable NAFDAC regulations for compliance with safety, quality, and labeling requirements.
She further stressed that the Agency on 22 March 2024, held a stakeholders engagement with members of the Association of Infant Food Manufacturers and Marketers in Nigeria (AIFMN), anchored by the Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (FSAN) Directorate to drive home further the importance and special place of infant and young child nutrition.
The DG then went on to reassure Nigerians that NAFDAC exercises due regulatory diligence in the registration of infant and young children foods distributed and used in Nigeria.
