NAFDAC Warns Against Sale of Salt in Open Basins

The National Agency for Food, Drugs Administration And Control (NAFDAC) has appealed to traders to desist from selling salt in open basins to the public, saying it can be harmful to health.

Mrs Hauwa Kari, NAFDAC’s Director of Establishment Inspection, who gave the warning in an interview with the newsmen on Tuesday in Abuja, noted that when exposed to the sun for long periods, salt loses its most useful content, iodine, though evaporation.

Our correspondent reports that iodine is an essential element of salt. It helps in the functioning of the thyroid, and is vital for normal growth, development and functioning of the brain and body.

According to Kari, iodine also influences growth in children and boosts fertility in women.

“NAFDAC is against selling salt in open basins, the iodine there will evaporate, so always buy salt that is in the small sachet for your home use, that has the eye logo.

“That mean it is fortified with Vitamin A, any other salt do not use as table salt for consumption in the home. It is for the benefit of the family, for the child, even for the husband.

Lack of iodine is what causes goiter. It is better to buy in small sachet already sealed. When you upon one sachet may be you use it for a month and you throw the empty packet, you have to take a new one.”

The director advised the public to patronize fortified products, saying that such products contained essential vitamins such as Vitamins A and B, which she said, were good for the body.

Kari maintained that fortified foods could help reduce malnutrition and could also prevent the vulnerable groups in the society from contracting diseases.

According to her, the Food Fortification Programme is an intervention scheme intended to enhance the quality and nutrition of readily available and more affordable foods.