Posted by By AGAPTUS ANAELE on
Manufacturers of salt have named high cost of import duty on potassium iodate used for salt iodisation as a challenge in its drive to actualize self-sufficiency in local manufacturing of iodised salt.
Manufacturers of salt have named high cost of import duty on potassium iodate used for salt iodisation as a challenge in its drive to actualize self-sufficiency in local manufacturing of iodised salt.
Speaking at the inauguration of its ultra-modern factory and launch of Mr Chef, its sachet-packed iodised salt in Lagos, Executive Director of Royal Salt Limited, Mr Reggie Uduhiri, also named unfair competition from imported products, congestion of access roads, poor infrastructure as factors that pose further challenges.
However, he assured that his company was poised to actualize Nigeria's target of self-sufficiency in salt iodisation by 2020.
Salt iodisation is stipulated by the World Health Organisation to avoid deficiency that emanate from non-iodised salt.
Speaking on its commitment to actualize the country's vision, Uduhiri said: 'Royal Salt Limited was commissioned in 1994 with a production capacity of 150,000 metric tonnes of edible food grade salt. Royal Salt opened a branch in Port Harcourt in 2001 with an installed capacity of 75,000 tonnes per annum. The Port Harcourt plant has since been upgraded to 150,000 per annum and today, we have upgraded our Kirikiri plant with a capacity of 150,000 tonnes per annum.
Director General of the National Agency for the Control of Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Professor Dora Akunyili, who unveiled the plant, described salt iodisation as crucial in curbing brain retardation in children.
'Iodine deficiency decreases the production of hormones necessary for growth and development of the human body. In pregnant women, iodine deficiency causes babies to be physically disabled, mentally retarded or stillbirth. Children with iodine deficiency disorder grow up to be stunted and mentally deficient,' she said.
According to Akunyili, even moderate deficiency leads to reduction of intelligence quotient by 10-15 per cent in children which is permanent.
Commending the firm's stride, Akunyili said: 'Mr Chef Salt in small packs by Royal Salt is a landmark achievement.'
She discouraged the purchase of salt in bags, explaining that such practice leads to loss of iodine in the salt.