(FCCPC officials sealing one of the factories. Photo by News Express)
Officials of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) have sealed up three factories in the Awada area of Onitsha, Anambra State, over failure to meet acceptable production standards.
During Tuesday’s raid, the commission’s enforcement team destroyed freshly produced milk found in containers and being scooped into cans at the affected factories.
Leading the enforcement operation, the South East Zonal Coordinator of the commission, Engr Obialor Francisca Ndidiamaka, condemned the practices uncovered at the factories, describing the dairy products being manufactured there as harmful to public health.
She stated: “We cannot fold our hands and continue to watch, while these people produce poisonous drinks and sell to unsuspecting members of the public.
“Look at the environment where they are producing, it is dirty.
They pick plastic bottles from the streets, rinse them with dirty water to bottle their soya milk.
“They produce in very unhygienic environment, they package them without any form of PPEs, they just handle with their bare hands.
No treated water or any form of analysis on the finished products, they just package it and sell to unsuspecting consumers.”
Obialor explained that her team had earlier visited the factory owners to issue a “stop production” notice and had invited them to the commission’s office in Awka for a briefing on the importance of complying with standard production procedures, but the owners disregarded the warning and continued operations.
She further noted that Section 18(f) of the FCCPC Act grants the commission authority to seal premises used to offer unwholesome or hazardous goods to consumers, adding that the affected sites would remain closed until they meet FCCPC requirements.
Accompanied by police operatives, the enforcement team also arrested the owner of one of the factories, while equipment and other materials used in production were confiscated as evidence.
Obialor expressed regret that a large proportion of dairy products sold in the market are adulterated and manufactured under unhygienic conditions, warning that such unwholesome products are increasingly flooding the market and pose a poisoning risk to consumers.
She affirmed that the commission remains committed to its mandate of preventing such products from reaching the open market.