About 13 illegal dairies, counterfeit water, and milk products were sealed on Wednesday by The National Agency for Food, Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) in Kumbotso and Nasarawa Local Government areas of Kano State.
Kano State Coordinator, Mr. Shaba Muhammad, said this in Kano during an inspection and enforcement exercise.
Muhammad said the agency seized numerous fake water, milk, and milk products in a raid conducted by the agency’s Enforcement Taskforce in the state.
He said that the raid was the sequel to the discovery of large quantities of counterfeit water, yogurt, and milk products circulating in the Kano metropolis and other major towns across the state.
According to him, the raid followed month-long surveillance on activities of the processors of fake sachet water and milk products.
The coordinator states that some of the factories were sealed due to a lack of NAFDAC registration numbers or failure to renew their licenses in the past 10 years.
He said some of the factories produced various brands of milk and milk products fully labelled genuine products from reputable companies in Nigeria.
“The operation of the dairies and water factories pose serious risks to public health and damage to the environment.
“We also took samples of the products for laboratory analysis to ascertain their efficacy,” he said.
Tamanuwa Andrew-Baba, an Assistant Director, Investigation and Enforcement of the agency, said the agency had deployed a team of personnel to conduct the enforcement exercise in Kano State.
He said the personnel were drafted from Kaduna and Lagos Zonal offices of the agency, adding that the team had seized some products and sealed the affected factories.
“We have made no arrest so far, but erring factory owners will be prosecuted as soon as investigation was concluded,” he said.
Andrew-Baba therefore warned against production and sale of counterfeit products, stressing that any defaulters would be prosecuted.
The team leader, therefore, called the people to report any suspicious activities and persons engaged in the illicit production of consumables in their communities and to check the circulation of counterfeit products in the country.
