How to identify fake drinks and beverages dis festive season

Di National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, Nafdac, don ask Nigerians to shine dia eyes well-well during dis festive period and tink of di “4Ps” before dem buy any drink weda alcoholic or non-alcoholic.

Di 4Ps mean Place, Price, Packaging and Product. Nafdac say make consumers dey watchful of di place, di price, products and how dem dey package di drinks dem wan buy.

Dis advice dey come afta one recent sting operation wey Nafdac plus oda security agencies carry out for Eziukwu Market (Cemetery Market) Aba, Abia State capital, south-east Nigeria.

Recently, di agency bin raid ova 240 shops wey dem turn to factories wia pipo bin dey produce and sell fake and harmful products. Di agency say dem don dey do di business for a long time and dem dey operate like cartel and dey threaten anyone wey dare to challenge dem.

Na ova 1500 cartons of fake and substandard products di agency destroy during di operation while dem evacuate 300 hundred cartons go NAFDAC warehouse.

Di street value of di confiscated and destroyed fake products dey estimated at ova seven hundred and fifty million naira only. (N750,000,000).

Dem arrest ten pipo for di scene of di crime and dem go charge dem go court afta thorough investigation, Nafdac tok for statement.

Seaman Schnapps, Hennessy, plus oda products dem dey produce and market

According to Nafdac, "some of di wicked activities of di counterfeiters include di manufacturing of all kinds of adulterated products especially different kinds of wine from a wide variety of brands ranging from Seaman Schnapps, Hennessy, Four Cousins, Carlo Rossi, Jenney, Chelsea London Dry Gin, Schnapp Dry Gin, McDowells, Black Labels, Gordons, Martell, Campari, Smirnoff ice, Eva Non-Alcoholic Drink, Cartel, and odas".

Dem also get date revalidation for expired products like Peak milk, Powdered milk, Ketchups, Yoghurt, Coca Cola products.

Dem dey package fake and substandard products, wey dem go later sell to unsuspecting members of di public for consumption.

Di agency add say “Di shops-turned factories dey very dirty, dem dey use water from very unhygienic sources, harmful chemicals, saccharin, colouring, dirty recycled bottles, and cloned packaging materials of oda brands.

Harmful chemicals

For one statement wey di agency release, di Nafdac Director-General Prof. Moji Adeyeye tok how dem dey produce dis adulterated alcoholic beverages for di kontri.

She explain say na by mixing of cheaper sources of sugar and starch besides grapes or fruit, plus oda harmful chemicals wey no dey suitable for human consumption.

Dis tori dey come as plenty Nigerians bin don dey complain about di plenty adulterated and fake drinks for market.

Meanwhile, di agency say make consumers report suspicious activities wey relate to di illegal production of adulterated products to dia nearest office.

Di World Health Organization (WHO) for dia Global Status Report on Alcohol and Health estimate say more dan three million pipo die all ova di world sake of alcohol poisoning.

Furthermore, di International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) tok say dem fit trace one out of every 10 cancer cases for Nigeria to alcohol and dem fit attribute 4.7 per cent of overall cancer cases for Nigeria for 2019 to consumption of adulterated alcohol.

How to identify fake products

Di National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control warn say make consumers check branded drinks well-well and differentiate dem from fake ones before dem consume dem.

Di agency say before you buy any kain drink at all: beverages, alcohol or non-alcoholic, first check for di following.

Place: Only buy NAFDAC registered drinks from reputable and licenced retailers, bars and supermarkets.

Price: If dem dey sell below di normal price, or e no include di normal taxes on liquors, den probably na fake.

Packaging: Check for poor quality packaging, spelling mistakes and unusually shaped bottles. Find di contact information and address of di manufacturer, if e no dey, den di alcohol na fake. Inspect di seal on di bottle. If di seal don break or e don spoil, den di contents fit no dey safe to drink. Check for fake bar codes. If you get di app on your mobile phone wey dey scan bar codes, scan am and see if e dey listed as di correct product.

Product: Beware of bad smells! If e dey smell like paint stripper or nail polish remover, den na fake!

Wetin be di dangers of taking fake drinks

Nafdac tok say drinking adulterated drinks fit cause: