Tomato paste importers pledge support for probe of substandard edible products

A coalition of tomato dealers, under the auspices of Association of Stakeholders in Edible Consumer Products in Nigeria (AECPIN), has expressed support for a thorough investigation into the importation of substandard edible consumer products into Nigeria.

Recall that the House Committee on Health Care Services and Drugs and Narcotics had last week commenced investigation into the allegations over influx of fake and substandard tomato paste from China, sequel to the resolution of the House on the motion sponsored by Nicholas Ossai.

Ikenna Ameachi, spokesman for the 24 companies who read the memorandum submitted to the joint Committee, argued that the recent call for a total ban on importation of tomato from some Asian countries was a de-marketing strategy aimed at creating monopoly as Nigeria cannot produce enough to satisfy the need for tomatoes in the country.

Amaechi, who pledges support for the Committee, however, said the group “will not support where people will hide under contrived figures to wage a pseudo battle against its competitors. We therefore call for thorough investigation using world-accepted standards to discover if there are any substandard products and apply the necessary sanctions where necessary.

“The allegations that tomato paste brand in Nigeria are substandard and dangerous for human consumption, we state that this is an attempt to cause panic in the market place and was said with malicious intent.

“Tomato does not cause cancer this much is known; so the terminology ‘cancer causing tomato’ is misleading. If there are ingredients in tomato paste that are carcinogenic, that is a different issue and it is for NAFDAC to identify those components and ban them.

“To the best of our knowledge, our products do not contain any ingredients that have been found to be carcinogenic or unfit for consumption.”

AECPIN further said, “Where any imported edible consumer food is found to be dangerous, toxic or harmful to health, it is the sole duty of NAFDAC to recall such goods from the market, seal the warehouses where they are stored and sanction the culpable party accordingly. There is no record that this is so.”

Amaechi maintained, “The argument that the tomato may have been smuggled does not hold water either because if the tomato were smuggled that means they did not go through screening and a ban on tomato will not address the issue as they have been operating outside the law abi nitio.

“If the issue is with smuggling, then it is a wild claim to say that 91 percent of tomato paste is poisonous as it is impossible for 91 percent of tomato paste in the market to be smuggled.

“It is therefore clear that if there are any substandard tomato products in Nigeria, they did not pass through the stringent due process established by the responsible agencies; they are most probably smuggled and if they were smuggled banning the importation of tomato paste would not be the solution as the smuggling would continue as a matter of course.”

In his submission, Babatunde Adebayo, NAFDAC acting director-general, who also dismissed all the claims and disowned the report that was paraded by the stakeholders, observed that the report was unsigned and did not emanate from the agency.

Adebayo, who doubles as director of planning, research and statistics, said the NAFDAC report in question did not mention that tomato pastes kill people or cause cancer, adding that when they got the information that some tomato pastes in the Nigerian markets were substandard, they carried out an analysis in Lagos.

Representatives of Erisco Foods Limited, Dangote Farms and Savannah Foods had during the investigative public hearing accused NAFDAC of failing to checkmate the abuses.