Nigeria is set to harmonize its standards with other African countries by adopting the African Standards on sugar and sugar products as well as develop Nigeria Industrial Standards for Glucose and Sucrose.
A technical committee chaired by the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) met recently at its Lagos office to consider adoption of some African Standards under the aegis of African Organisation for Standardization (ARSO) and the development of other Nigeria Industrial Standards.
The Director-General, Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Mr.Osita Aboloma, said that “the draft standards on sugar are very important as they affect everyday life to their wide usage as sweeteners for human consumption and as raw materials along the food value chain”.
“It is therefore imperative for Nigeria to develop standards that take into cognizance these salient factors in a bid to forestall threat to life, waste of resources and to boost the quality of products both for local consumption and exports”, he said.
While explaining Nigeria’s contribution to ARSO’s efforts towards harmonizing standards within the African continent, the DG said Nigeria will benefit from the adoption of these harmonized standards through increased trade opportunities and competitiveness of its goods and services at both African, sub-regional and global levels.
The standards considered for adoption at the meeting were: ARS 875-2017 Raw Cane Sugar, ARS 876-2017 Brown Sugar, ARS 58-2017 White Sugar Specification, and Determination of Lactose Content by High Performance Liquid Chromatography.
The draft Nigeria Industrial Standards also considered during the meeting were for glucose and sucrose.
Participants at the meeting included representatives of Institute of Public Analysts of Nigeria (IPAN), Federal Institute of Industrial Research Osodi (FIIRO), BUA Sugar Ltd., Dangote Sugar and National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).
Other participants were firms drawn from a cross section of the beverage industry including Promasidor Nigeria Limited, Coca-Cola Nigeria Limited, FrieslandCampina WAMCO, and the Consumer Protection Council (CPC).
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