In advance to the public alert issued on two batches of its Eva Water (75cl) brands by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), the Nigerian Bottling Company (NBC) has commenced withdrawal of the affected batches, produced on 220519.14.27 AC4 and 230519.15.15 AC4, respectively.
According to a press statement made available to BusinessDay, NAFDAC wishes to inform the general public on the true situation with Eva Water produced and bottled by the NBC.
“Following discovery of a default in two lots of Eva bottled water (75cl pack size) produced between 22nd and 23rd May 2019 at the NBC ultra modern factory at Asejire in Ibadan, the company immediately initiated a recall of the affected lots and voluntarily notified NAFDAC as is expected of every responsible quality-driven organisation with high priority for Food Safety and safety of its consumers,” it states.
The statement also reveals that after thorough investigation of the company’s processes supported with detailed laboratory analysis of the water and all other products produced at the factory, NAFDAC is satisfied that adequate corrective and preventive actions are in place to guarantee the quality and safety of Eva water and indeed all Coca Cola products that are registered by NAFDAC.
“It is important to highlight that there is no cause for alarm, as the laboratory reports did not indicate any health threat; the recall was purely precautionary and it is standard food safety practice all over the world.
“A recall is initiated when there is strong reason to believe that a potentially contaminated food has reached the marketplace whether confirmed or not,” according to the statement.
However, the agency is reassuring to note that the NBC demonstrated a high sense of responsibility in voluntarily reporting the problem and in the recall process. NAFDAC urges all companies and stakeholders to think of the customers’ safety first just like what NBC has done in this case. This is exemplary and should be emulated by all manufacturers.
NAFDAC has taken the required regulatory actions and the public is hereby assured of the safety of Eva water. NAFDAC uses quality management system to strengthen its regulatory control and make the process transparent as part of the efforts to safeguard the health of the nation.
