Fanta, Sprite Not Fit For Consumtion - Benson Idahosa Varsity. Faults NAFDAC on clearance to consume
BENSON
Idahosa University, BIU, Benin City, Edo State, has faulted the Federal
Government’s clearance that Fanta and Sprite beverages were good for
consumption, insisting that the information or data provided by the
government on the beverages fell short of addressing the safety concerns
raised in court.
It
will be recalled that a Lagos High Court had ordered the National
Agency for Food Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, to compel the
Nigeria Bottling Company, NBC, the manufacturer of Fanta and Sprite, to
include a written warning label that the content of the two products
should not be taken with Vitamin C.
However,
at a media briefing held in the institution, some scientists at the
BIU, led by the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Ernest Izevbigie, raised concern
over the clean bill of health given to Nigerians to consume Fanta and
Sprite, saying that as an ivory tower, the institution owed the society a
responsibility to provide expert opinion on the matter.
Prof
Izevbigie, who is a professor of Biochemistry, said answers provided to
questions such as the presence and amount of colourant in Fanta, the
presence and concentration of benzoic acid or sodium benzoate in the two
beverages and the presence and concentration of benzene that results
from conversion of benzoic acid to benzene, were not satisfactory.
He
said that the colourant used in Fanta, the yellow sunset, had been
implicated in cytotoxicity, carcinogenesis, allergies and hyper activity
in children when the right amount is not used.
On
benzoic acid, he said the Federal Ministry of Health has explanation to
give on why standard given for it in soft drinks was put at 250mg/kg as
opposed to 150mg/kg that was obtainable in the United Kingdom and
Ghana.
