EL-kanis, an agrotech firm, says it has developed guidelines and procedures to equip agric-entrepreneurs with the knowledge and skills to procure, store and market Vitamin A Maize (VAM) and Vitamin A Cassava (VAC) food products.
The project, sponsored by HarvestPlus and Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) through the Commercialisation of Biofortified Crops (CBC) project is targeted at providing food producers and manufacturers with knowledge on how to procure, store, process, sell and market VAM and VAC food products.
Speaking during a stakeholders review session, the managing director, El-kanis and Partners, Ben Ukpe said the main objective of the brochure was “to establish the current regulatory frameworks and food industry guidelines on the marketing of VAC and VAM ingredients.”
“El-kanis provided HarvestPlus and GAIN with the expertise to develop, implement, and maintain modern food safety management systems based on Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) system principles.
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“This is to create guideline documents for businesses involved in production, processing and marketing of VAC and VAM, which we have also identified authorities involved in the creation and endorsement of new standards and regulations in Nigeria.” Ukpe said.
Ukpe decried a situation where most consumers make purchases without taking note of this information perhaps because they do not understand the information provided due to the complexity of the data.
He revealed that as at the time of developing the document, Nigeria had no laws regulating products of Vitamin A cassava and Vitamin A Maize and also acknowledged a draft biosafety bill before the National Assembly for consideration.
“The draft bill advocates compulsory labelling of food items containing products of biotechnology to protect consumers’ right to know. When the bill is passed, NAFDAC will be the enforcing agency,’’ Ukpe said.
