Recall that a Lagos state High Court passed an information stating that the soft drinks is harmful and also contain ingredients.
Good news is that the Federal Government has informed every consumer of Fanta and Sprite that the Nigerian Bottling Company (NBC), did not infringe the quality of the products in Nigeria thereby certifying that the drinks are good for consumption.
The Director of Media and Public Relations in the Ministry of Health, Boade Akinola, revealed that in December 2016, the FG said NBC passed a trial which confirmed the quality of the product.
“In the case of Benzoic acid, the standard set by Codex was 600mg/kg until recently reviewed to 250mg/kg and adopted in 2016. (CODEX STAN 192-1995 revised 2015 and 2016),” the statement read.
“With reference to the Codex standard and other relevant documents, Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) elaborated the standard of benzoic acid in soft drinks to be at 250mg/kg based on the national climatic and storage conditions. This standard has been in existence since 1997 and revised in 2008. (NIS 217:2008)
“The levels of benzoic acid in Fanta (1 batch) and Sprite (2 batches) presented by the claimant in the court are 188.64mg/kg, 201.06mg/kg and 161.5mg/kg respectively.
“These levels are in compliance with both the Codex and Nigeria industrial standards.”
“Due to the different environmental conditions obtainable in the UK, the standard for benzoic acid was set at a lower limit of 150mg/kg while in Nigeria it was set at 250mg/kg even below that of Codex (as at time of production of that batch; Codex limit was 600mgkg),” he said.
“The claimant did not obtain NAFDAC certification before export, otherwise, he would have been advised on the required standard of the destination country.”
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