Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has confiscated more than 300 bags of substandard sugar in Singa market of Kano metropolis.
The seized sugar was believed to have been imported into the country through subterranean routes from Brazil without proper certification from the authorities.
The products were confiscated on Tuesday during routine raid exercise of the Organisation in its bid to get rid of substandard, fake and adulterated products from the markets.
The Organisation’s coordinator in charge of Kano and Jigawa states, Malam Yunusa B. Mohammeed who led other members of monitoring and compliance team on the raid stated that the sugar is lacking in some vital ingredients like vitamin A, and has a high level of icumsa concentration which is dangerous for consumption in the country.
He expressed concern over the current influx of unfortified sugar products in the markets, reiterating SON’s determination to containing the menace in the two states within his jurisdiction.
“It is a federal government policy that certain products must be fortified with vitamin A, and one of these products is sugar. The influx of sugar into the country has been one of our major concerns as some of these sugar products are not fortified with vitamin A, besides that most of the sugar equally has very high level of icumsa value, for that reason, we were asked to sustain surveillance of these products and wherever we see them we should ensure that we evacuate them.
“For not fortifying them they have contravened Nigerian laws, secondly, on the several tests we conducted on some of these products it shows that they have high level of icumsa which is the colour indicator and we want to ensure that whatever Nigerians are consuming is within the confines of the specifications of Nigerian standards” he emphasized.
The Usina Bazan brand of sugar was confiscated from three shops and Mohammed said the affected shop owners would be investigated and if found culpable they would be charged to court for prosecution.
