… as Facebook critic apologises

 By Juliet Umeh

The  National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has said that the Tomatoe paste product Erisco’s Tomato mix which is the centre of a social spat in recent weeks now, followed approved technical and clinical processes and therefore safe for consumption.

The Agency made the clarification via its verified X (formerly Twitter) saying: “The formulation of tomato paste and ketchup products with sugar is safe for consumption. Sugar is added to these products for a number of reasons, including but not limited to masking bitterness, enhancing colour and flavour, improving texture and taste consistency, and as a preservative.

“The safety limits of sugar in food products are determined by NAFDAC, and only sugar-containing products within these safety limits are approved by NAFDAC.”

Meanwhile, Hi-Tech gathered that the Facebook reviewer, Chioma Egodi who criticized the product, has issued an apology to Erisco Food Limited over her comments on the product.

Erisco Food Limited, said Egodi expressed remorse for whatever damage her review of the product must have caused the organisation.

The letter, dated September 26, 2023, comes after Egodi expressed dissatisfaction with the quality of Erisco’s product on social media, claiming that their tomato paste was overly sweet and inferior to other brands.

She also pledged to retract all her earlier posts on the matter without any coercion and promised to rectify any wrongs she had done.

Part of the apology reads: “I sincerely wish to apologise to Erisco Foods Limited on the post I made on facebook about their product Nagiko Tomatoes mix. I regret my actions, and wish to be forgiven. I pledge that this will never happen again. I undertake to retract all my earlier post on this matter immediately, this is without any compulsion.”

CEO of Erisco Foods, Dr. Eric Umeofia in a statement attributed the attack on his product as an attack against the advocacy for made-in-Nigeria goods.

He claimed that Erisco’s investment in Nigeria is not driven by profit, but rather by a desire to create job opportunities for Nigerians.