If you a dealer or consumer of sachet and bottled drinks, this latest directive of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) should be of interest to you.
It has just announced a ban on the production and sale of a certain categories of sachet and bottled drinks
This is with reference to alcoholic beverages packaged in sachets and small bottles below 200 milliliters.
The ban which takes effect December 2025, was announced by the NAFDAC Director General, Professor Mojisola Adeyeye, at a press briefing in Abuja.
“The proliferation of high-alcohol-content beverages in sachets and small containers has made such products easily accessible, affordable, and concealable, leading to widespread misuse and addiction among minors and commercial drivers,” Adeyeye stated.
The NAFDAC DG said the health hazards associated with these sachet and bottled drinks were linked to increased incidences of domestic violence, road accidents, school dropouts, and social vices across communities.
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The latest development is a fallout of a Memorandum of Understanding which the agency reached in 2018 with other relevant agencies and bodies to phase out sachet-packaged alcohol.
The other stakeholders included the Federal Ministry of Health, the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), the Association of Food, Beverage and Tobacco Employers (AFBTE) and the Distillers and Blenders Association of Nigeria (DIBAN) amongst others.
This was against the backdrop of increasing level of consumption of these harmful drinks by vulnerable members of the society including children, adolescents and commercial drivers.
The unregulated consumption of the bottled drinks and alcohol is fingered for increased incidents of crime including drung addiction, road accidents, and domestic violence in the society.
Stating that the ban was not punitive, the NAFDAC DG said it aligned with a recent resolution of the Senate expressing concern over the level of availability and abuse of cheap alcohol drinks in sachets
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