A company, DAI Brothers Investment Limited, has approached the Federal High Court in Lagos seeking an order compelling the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control to release the result of a laboratory analysis carried out on a batch of Aquafina table water.
The company, in the suit it filed before Justice Hadizat Shagari, claimed that it suspected that Aquafina table water, being packaged by the Seven-Up Bottling Company Plc, was contaminated.
In an affidavit deposed to by its Managing Director, Ibrahim Yaro, DAI Brothers Investment Limited claimed to have sometime between November and December 2015 purchased a batch of Aquafina table water from one Gjonny Enterprises – a distributor accredited by Seven-Up Bottling Company Plc.
The company claimed to have in turn supplied the water to a vessel, M.T. Marina, which was one of its customers.
Yaro, however, claimed that upon consuming the water, the crew members on the vessel, who were foreign nationals, took ill and had to be flown to India for treatment.
Yaro alleged that following a close scrutiny of the supplied Aquafina table water, it was discovered that the said water contained some black particles or foreign bodies.
He said it was upon this that the company lodged a complaint with NAFDAC, adding that NAFDAC subsequently acted on the complaint and recovered 22 packs of 150cl of Aquafina table water from the batch purchased.
He said the water samples were sealed and marked for laboratory test in the presence of the complainant and a representative of Seven-Up Bottling Company Plc.
He added that the two parties were informed by NAFDAC that the result of the test would be out after a month and a certificate of the laboratory report would be issued.
Lawyer for the complainant, Jerry Omoregie, however, claimed that since 2015 NAFDAC had refused to release the result of the laboratory test despite several demands.
He urged the court to compel NAFDAC to perform its statutory duty by releasing the report.
Justice Shagari has fixed April 12, 2017 to hear the case.
Sources - punchng.com
Alt sources - http://9jamoment.com/company-sues-nafdac-alleged-contaminated-table-water/