In response to the uproar generated by the ban on alcoholic drinks or PET bottles by the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC), the agency has revealed that the alcoholic content in sachet or PET bottles less than 200ml is 30% while beer has 4-8% alcohol.
Resident Media Consultant to NAFDAC, Sayo Akintola disclosed this in a statement issued on Tuesday, February 13, 2024.
According to the statement, NAFDAC did not ban alcohol production in bigger bottles. The Agency only banned alcohol in containers or packing that a child could easily conceal, that is, sachet or PET bottles less than 200ml.
The statement read in part:
“The alcoholic content in sachet or PET bottles less than 200ml is 30%. Beer has 4-8% alcohol.
“The Association of Food, Beverage & Tobacco Employers (AFBTE) and Distillers and Blenders Association of Nigeria (DIBAN) signed an agreement with MOH and NAFDAC and FCCPC in 2018 December that they will phase out production of alcohol in sachet and PET bottles less than 200 ml by January 31, 2024. The agreement document is available. A five-year phase-out notice should be sufficient.
“Nigeria was one of the 193 Member States of WHO that reached an historical consensus on a global strategy to reduce the harmful use of alcohol by adopted resolution WHA63.13 at the Sixty-third session of the World Health Assembly, held in Geneva in 2010.
“This was seven years before my time, an agreement signed by Nigeria with other nations that we will protect youth by making alcohol not easily reachable and accessible”.
