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Nigerian food companies shun labelling requirement

By BusinessNews Staff on March 19, 2014

MOST food manufacturing companies in Nigeria have not complied with the recommendation to adopt the Nigerian Heart Foundation, NHF, Heart Check Food Labelling programme introduced in 1988.

Worried by the development, which is allegedly fuelling cardiovascular diseases among Nigerians, health experts have called for immediate mandatory requirement of heart check food labelling in the country.

The experts who spoke in Lagos are also of the view that compulsory food labelling would ensure proper dietary manners as well as promote good nutrition in Nigeria.

Making the call in Lagos last week, Emeritus Professor of Medicine, Professor Oladipo Akinkugbe, disclosed that out of 300 Nigerian food manufacturing companies only five have so far adopted the NHF recommendation.

Akinkugbe, who is President, Board of Trustees of the NHF, expressed worry about the high number of unhealthy food products in the Nigerian market.

He observed that although the heart check food labelling programme is currently voluntary, it is of importance to Nigerians as it is designed to halt the spread of common cardiovascular diseases, such as hypertension and stroke while improving the welfare of those already afflicted.

The NHF’s labelling programme is a systematic endorsement of food items certifying them healthy for consumption and heart friendly with emphasis on low fats and cholesterol, low sodium and low glucose.

“It means eating the right amount of foods that are heart – healthy and nutritious which is part of the global strategy to reducing non communicable diseases, Non Communicable Diseases, NCDs, including heart diseases, cancer and diabetes mellitus,” he said.

Akinkugbe spoke during the formal endorsement of Power Oil, a product of Raffles LFTZ (Dufil), Nigeria. “We are determined to reduce suffering and death from heart diseases in the population. Therefore, NHF is calling on government to make the heart check food labelling programme compulsory. We want to ensure that food products such as vegetable oil, water, beverages, fruit juices and fish have the heart friendly logo.

“The food labelling programme aims to emphasize the importance of creating awareness and sensitisation of manufacturers in the food and beverage industries on the importance of reformulations and marketing of foods which are heart – healthy. The programme aims to facilitate a reorientation of foods manufacturing companies and the public towards demand for healthy and nutritious foods,” he added.

He further identified dearth of analytical laboratories in the country to carry out detailed food analysis as stipulated by the international requirements as a main challenge towards achieving the objective o f the programme. Akinkugbe further advocated provision of well equipped laboratories to evaluate food products and certify them heart friendly.

He expressed hope that Power oil and various other heart – friendly oil will dominate the market in the coming years and challenged other manufacturing companies to take a cue with a view to correcting poor dietary manners.

Executive Director, NHF, Dr Kingsley Akinroye said prevention of heart diseases and other NCDs are much better than cure. Akinroye who is the Vice President World Heart Federation, WHF, explained that the Food Labelling programme was evidence based on research to promote health of Nigerians.

“We enlisted 20 companies but five were found to be qualified using international standards. The challenges are numerous but most companies are unable to fulfil the criteria and comply with the strict protocol. It is also difficult to get companies to participate,” he added.

Earlier, the CEO, Dufil Prima, Mr. Deepak Singhai assured that the heart – friendly vegetable oil would go a long way to check the consumption of adulterated oil which many Nigerians had been patronising.

[Vanguard]

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