INTRODUCTION
Quality is the composite of the various attribute and properties of a product that influence its acceptability to the buyer or consumer. Its fundamental for enhancing marketability of products and therefore a key condition for completing favourably in local and international markets.
In this era of globalization, competitiveness and quality management are part of the fundamental factors which determine business success . Standards lay the basic foundation for the evaluation/establishment of product quality.The consumer is also protected from the hazardous effect of substandard ,fake or adulterated product [e.g health, environment risks etc] through conformance of products to quality standards. hence, NAFDAC`s role in ensuring and promotion quality issues that would result in safe and wholesome regulated product for export from Nigeria to international markets cannot be overemphasized.
THE NAFDAC MANDATE
The national agency for food and drug administration and control [NAFDAC] was established by NAFDAC ACT N.I Laws of federation of nigeria,2004 to regulate and control the importation, exportation
, manufacture advertisement, distribution, sale and use of food, drugs, cosmetics, medical devices, packaged water/drinks, chemicals [called regulated products].It is also empowered to be the national agency for the registration of food and drugs [regulated products ]by the food, Drugs and Related Products.
ACT CAP F33, Laws of the federal republic of Nigeria 2004.This law states that no regulated products as listed earlier shall be manufactured, imported, exported, advertised, sold or distributed in Nigeria unless it has been registered by NAFDAC. Therefore all regulated products whether for the domestic market or for export must be registered by the agency.The mandate for certifying packaged, processed or semi-processed food commodities for export, previously carried out by the Dept. of Port Health Services, was assigned to NAFDAC in 2003.The agency is now well positioned to take up the challenges of this responsibility specifically.
EXPORTATION OF REGULATED PRODUCTS
1.) EXPORT OF DRUGS/COSMECTICS
E.g drugs manufactured by Emzor, Dana And PZ Pharmaceuticals PLC. In Nigeria, drugs manufactured locally and registered by NAFDAC are in very high demand in the ECOWAS Countries This is as a result of the drastic action taken by the agency under
Prof.Dora Akunyili's management which has drastically reduced the incidence of fake drugs. However, Pharmaceutical export through International tenders are constrained by certain requirements such as the world health organisation certification and the united states food and drug certification.
2.)EXPORT Of Pre-Packaged Food Products
These products are limited mainly to the West African Countries e.g Nigerian Breweries Ltd, Unilever Nig.Ltd, Wamco Nig Ltd etc frequently come to the agency for certification of their products for export. Once these products have current registEration licences and the GMP status of their manufacturing establishments are satisfactory,.A Combined Certificate of Manufacture and Free Sale is immediately issued to the product for export.
REQUIREMENTS FOR INTERNATIONAL MARKET
(The international Regulatory framework for product quality)
The world trade organization (WTO) confers the right to any member country to apply measures necessary to products human ,animal and plant life and health.These measures/regulations i.e Sanitary and Phytosanitary measures the safety of food or food ingredients that could adversely affect human beings, plants and animals.
NAFDAC'S ROLE IN EXPORT TRADE
1) REGULATION
2) INSPECTION/REGISTERATION
3) CERTIFICATION
1. REGULATION
The Codex unit of NAFDAC is the custodian of standards guidelines and codes of practice of the codex alimentarious Commission.to provide bench marks for product quality, standards have been laid down to establish the common requirements for all food products thus providing the essential guarantees for protection of public health, consumer protection, honesty of transactions and official monitoring of food products.
Regulations associated with export food control and inspection is generally of 2 types Namely
A. General Regulations; These provide general or common requirements to be met by all prescribed foods for export and subject to export inspection.They also provide details of procedures to be adopted by exporters seeking approval from the Agency for export certificates to export prescribed goods.
B. Product/Commodity Regulations; Each prescribed product or group of products has its own regulations. These regulations contain detailed technical requirements and standards for specific products and their handling, preparation, processing, packaging, labelling, storage and transport. They also provide for the level of additives and maximumum residue levels or contaminats of all sorts.
2. REGISTERATION
An efficient part an effective export control and inspection system is the control of export establishments .A well managed ,Well equipped ,clean and efficiently run establishment is most likely to export safe products of acceptable quality ,where a poorly managed, poor quality, poorly equipped, unclean and inefficiently run establishment is most unlikely to produce goods that are safe and acceptable for export.
3. CERTIFICATION
This is simply a certificate which the Agency issues on any prescribed goods officially approved for export and can therefore be cleared by customs officials at the point of exit. Even after the certificate has been issued,an authorized NAFDAC officer can re-inspect the goods,withdraw them from export if their condition has changed considerably and retrieve the certificate.
The agency issues 2 types of certificates for export;
I. The combined Certificate of Manufacture and Free Sale which certifies to the importing country that the regulated product is manufactured under acceptable conditions and is freely sold in the country of origin.
II. The health certificate is issued on semi-processed or processed Food Commodities for Export.
PACKAGING
Appropriate packaging at all levels of the production chain from harvesting, primary storage, processing, through the final consumer is a critical element in assuring product quality, safety, preserving/packaging and reducing food loss.
It is required that packaging material used for prescribed goods for export meet the requirements of the product regulations ,is new,does not place the acceptability of the goods at risk,is suitable for thee product, does not react with the product and is sufficiently strong to withstand handling during transit.
TRADE DESCRIPTION
This includes;
1. A true description of goods
2. The net contents
3. A list of ingredients in descending order of proportions as required by the product regulations
SAMPLING AND ANALYSIS
The surest way of certifying if goods are fit or unfit for human consumption is through laboratory analysis. The agency (NAFDAC) insists on laboratory analysis of all semi-processed and processed food commodities for export before issuing Health Certificates
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