By Evelyn Usman
Recently, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, alerted Nigerians on the proliferation of fake St Louis  sugar in the  markets. The sugar which was said to have been smuggled from Cotonou had been consumed by a number of unsuspecting Nigerians without the slightest knowledge of the hazard it represents.

Following this startling discovery, the agency intensified its surveillance and with the collaboration of  Milan Nigeria company which has the sole distributorship of the product in Nigeria, a raid was carried on some markets where the sugar was to be sold.

The raids carried out in  Igando, Mushin, Ikotun, Ketu, Ikorodu, and Boundary markets led to the arrests of several traders with the  cartons of the fake sugar. The affected shops were consequently sealed, an action the agency said was to serve as deterrent to others.

The agency’s surveillance team, during the raids, discovered that the fake brand of sugar was smuggled into the country in  the guise of the popular brand of sugar. A  member of the team who  spoke in anonymously hinted that the agency had been doing all within its might to check  activities of the importers,  lamenting, however, that smugglers kept taking the products to other markets in the country.

The raid according to him, “is  the end product of an intensive surveillance of the market and for now we are concerned on how to mop up the product from circulation. And from the number of markets we have raided so far, the end is in sight”, assuring that the agency would spread its dragnet to other states with a view to ensuring that the fake sugar was flushed out of Nigerian markets, considering the side effects on consumers health.

For easy identification of NAFDAC certified St Louis  sugar, he advised Nigerians to always look out for the eye logo which  represents the presence of Vitamin A and NAFDAC number. He added that “the original St Louis sugar is called cube sugar while the fake has the inscription pure sugar on it.

The fake one has no vitamin A on it. Consumers are therefore advised to look out for this traits and also report any shop which sells the fake to us because the inherent danger is that when it is not certified it means it is not  from the  registered company.

That is why we keep urging consumers to look for goods that are NAFDAC certified because  it means we have tested the products and have found it worthy of consumption for users and the same applies to  St. Louis Sugar which has been fortified and certified by NAFDAC.

Nigerians should desist

from buying any St. Louis sugar from Cotonou that is not certified by NAFDAC because  the Cotonou imported sugar is dangerous to health and has a side effect upon human consumption. NAFDAC is also trailing the smugglers from Cotonou for prosecution”.

The Chief Security Officer, Milan Nigeria, Mr. Fidelis Agholor, hinted that  the raid was carried out  following a tip- off, assuring that it would  be a continuous process until the distributors got the message .

He disclosed that the first raid was carried out in  Okeiran and Ebute-Ero markets as a result of which the distributors shifted base to other markets. The arrested traders as gathered, would be charged to court and the seized goods destroyed.