Following the recent court judgment on the
case filed by Fijabi Holdings and another versus Nigeria Bottling Company and NAFDAC, the Federal Ministry of Health has directed all bottling companies to insert advisory warnings on all products for the benefit of the health of all Nigerians.
It advised Nigerians to take medicines with potable water instead of soft drinks to prevent unexpected drug-food interactions. A statement from the Ministry yesterday in Abuja said that the Minister of Health, Prof Isaac Adewole, had summoned a meeting of the Department of Food and Drug Services, Federal Ministry of Health, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) to address the related issues arising from the court judgment and found out that both Benzoic acid and Ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) are ingredients approved by International Food Safety regulators and used in many food and beverage products around the world, as well as that in the case of Benzoic acid, the standard set by Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) Codex was 600mg/kg until recently reviewed to 250mg/kg and adopted in 2016. (CODEX STAN 192-1995 revised 2015 and 2016).
