The Director General of Nigeria’s National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Professor Mojisola Adeyeye, has reassured the public that genetically modified foods (GMOs) pose no health risks when they comply with rigorous safety protocols.
The top food safety regulator delivered this assurance during a live interview on Channels Television’s breakfast program on Thursday, seeking to allay growing public concerns about GMO consumption in Africa’s most populous nation.
“GMOs are genetically modified foods when it comes to food, and they are not bad for us,” she said. “They’re not bad for us, depending on what type of foods they are and whether the safety considerations have been taken.”
The NAFDAC boss explained that the National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA) was responsible for ensuring the safety of GMO products, while NAFDAC collaborates with them to certify food quality.
“We work in collaboration with the biosafety management agency. We have an MOU with them. They are mandated to ensure that the foods that have GMO are of quality, they are safe, and they are efficacious. Without them certifying that they have done their due diligence in their laboratory or for desk review or whatever, we cannot approve” she added.
Adeyeye, who described herself as a “food freak,” emphasized the importance of checking food labels for GMO indications. She assured Nigerians that approved products in the market undergo strict safety evaluations.
“For NAFDAC, our goal is to ensure that the food we approve for the market is safe, has quality, and is efficacious,” she stated.
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