The Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Prof Mojisola Adeyeye, on Monday charged the governments and stakeholders in the nation’s agriculture and agribusiness sector to renew their commitment to a Nigeria where every Nigerian has access to safe and wholesome food.
Adeyeye gave the advice on Monday during the NAFDAC 2026 World Food Safety Day event in with the theme “From Burden to Solutions – Safe Food Everywhere” held in Lagos
The World Food Safety Day was first observed in June 2019, marking a historic global commitment to making safe food an essential aspect of public health and sustainable development.
She maintained that NAFDAC was fully aligned with this global commitment and “today, we join the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, the National Food Safety Management Committee and the global community to recognize the importance of safe food, remind ourselves that safe food is an imperative and indeed a fundamental human right, as well as reaffirm our shared commitment and collective responsibility for protecting public health through stronger, more resilient food safety systems that yield safe and nutritious food.”
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World Food Safety Day was established by the United Nations General Assembly in December 2018, following a joint proposal by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO). to raise awareness about the importance of food safety and to promote efforts that help prevent, detect, and manage foodborne risks.
Researches have shown that food-borne illnesses cause over 200 different diseases, affecting public health, livelihoods, education, and national economies, yet most cases are preventable through proper food handling, monitoring, and coordinated action.
Adeyeye, who was represented by the Director, Food Safety and Applied Nutrition of the agency, Mrs. Eva Edwards, said food safety affected everyone along the food supply chain – from agricultural production, through harvesting and storage, transportation and distribution, processing and transformation of the raw agricultural products, wholesale and retail markets, food service establishments, and the consumer – all are important stages along the food supply chain presenting unique food safety risks.
The Director-General further explained that everyone had a critical role to play in ensuring that food is safe from farm to fork, stressing that the theme of the 2026 World Food Safety Day “From Burden to Solutions – Safe Food Everywhere” calls for deep reflection as it is a reminder that unsafe food remains a major public health burden which has affected millions of lives globally through preventable foodborne illnesses, food insecurity, economic losses, and reduced productivity, contributing to food export rejects, food waste and sadly, loss of lives.
The agency’s Resident Media Concultant, Mr. Sayo Akintola, in statement quoted the Director-General as pointing out that the theme challenges everyone to focus on practical and sustainable solutions that will ensure safe food for everyone, everywhere, adding that this can be attained through science-based regulation, education, responsible practices, entrenching food safety culture, innovation, and collaboration – these can collectively transform the dire food safety situation – transforming food safety challenges into opportunities for action and improvement.
For Nigeria, the NAFDAC’s boss said strengthening food safety remained crucial to protecting our population, supporting nutrition, enabling trade, and building confidence in our food system. As our food supply chains become more complex, Prof. Adeyeye added that the Agency must continue to strengthen its regulatory systems, surveillance, laboratory capacity, industry compliance, and public awareness.
To achieve safe food everywhere, Adeyeye noted that intentional, dedicated, sustained actions and implementation of best practices by all actors along the farm to fork continuum were required.
She stressed that these include adherence to Good Agricultural Practices (GAP), Good Hygiene Practices (GHP), Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP), Good Storage and Distribution practices, implementing a Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) system, food safety education and raising public awareness on WHO’s five keys to safer foods.
The Director-General clarified: “The role of our Agency as a Competent Authority for food safety in Nigeria is anchored on verifying that food products available to the Nigerian public meet the applicable international and national standards for safety and quality, as well as verifying that they are produced in line with established regulatory requirements.”
However, she maintained that achieving safe food everywhere required more than regulation alone, but also partnerships, recognizing that food safety is a shared responsibility.
In addition, Adeyeye explained that the event provided an opportunity not only to reflect on the challenges before all stakeholders, but also to acknowledge progress and highlight solutions that are already making a difference evidenced by the shift from reactive to preventive systems through strengthening regulatory oversight and initiating risk-based approaches, enhancing public awareness of food safety risks, and building stronger partnerships across sectors.
She said: ‘The message of this year’s theme “From Burden to Solutions – Safe Food Everywhere“ is clear, we must move from simply recognizing the burden of foodborne diseases caused by unsafe food, to actively implementing solutions that protect our communities and strengthen our food systems.”
Adeyeye concluded her remarks by urging Nigerians to remain vigilant and avoid purchasing products that do not carry proper labelling, NAFDAC registration numbers or traceable sources, noting that consumer awareness is an important part of food safety.
Photo Caption
NAFDAC Director, Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, Mrs. Eva Edwards (3rd right) flanked by other Directors of the agency at the 2026 World Food Safety Day event held on Monday in Lagos
