Chocolat Royal on Etim Inyang Crescent in VI, Lagos is a well known and loved bakery, ice cream shop and cafe.

Many who frequent the shop/building, that also houses sister companies 96.9 Cool FM and 95.1 WAZOBIA FM, amongst others, and were shocked to find out it was shut down by NAFDAC last week. According to City Reporters, several facts emerged:

• All food products/source material had expired – the oldest since 2004 and the newest in 2013. There were maggots found in some.
• 90% of the products were not labelled in English, and therefore were not registered by NAFDAC.
• Illegal cold rooms were found in the building and in the MD – Amin Moussalli‘s house.
• The contaminated food products were stored in cold rooms on top of sewage (‘suck away’ pit) and in front of toilets.

The foreign chefs also gave chilling insight into the business practices – they knew the products were expired but still went ahead to make them. City Reporters states:

On interrogation, the jittery cooks who identified themselves as John Gbokasa and David from Benin Republic confirmed to NAFDAC officials that the House belongs to Mr Moussali and that the fake, unregistered and expired food products found inside the two cold rooms were for Chocolat Royal.

“I know that the products have expired, some, 2004, 2006, 2009, but I am a cook and I take instruction from my boss,” David said.

“Anytime they need some products to prepare edibles at Chocolat Royal, they come here with van and mine is to give them key to take whatever they want and after they finish taken the items, they will return the key to me,” John added.

They however begged the NAFDAC officials not to arrest them but wait until their boss, Mr Moussalli who absconded and is still at large or the wife who they said was out of the country return. NAFDAC however, turn down their plea and arrested the two who during interrogation at Apapa office of the Agency gave vital information to NAFDAC.

From there, the NAFDAC Director and the entire team stormed the Etim Iyang Crescent headquarters of Chocolat Royal at about 6:15pm for the second time with the aim to not only break the cold rooms but also arrest Tatiana and the staff who had earlier wilfully obstructed NAFDAC officials from performing their duty.

But except the overzealous Finance director, Mr Idowu Adebayo and one Mr David who were not all that lucky others including Tatiana have all taken to their heels on realizing that Moussalli’s resident has been broken into and two illegal cold rooms discovered and evacuated.

NAFDAC officials however, were able to inspected only two cold rooms as it was getting late already, except some few products purchased in our local market, all the imported products inside the cold rooms have expired.

The expired products which filled two Hilux pick-up vans worth about N500 million were also evacuated and the entire building sealed.

Reacting to the incident after the operation, Ejiofor said that NAFDAC had in their custody six persons in connection with the incident, adding that they were arrested for intentionally obstructing NAFDAC officials while on official duty.

“The suspects will be interrogated, while the food products will be sampled and taken to the laboratory for analysis, where the labels and contents will be properly analysed and at the end of the day when the reports are out, that will determine the next line of action,” Ejiofor said.

The NAFDAC director, who commended the officers and the entire team for the successful operation despite the intimidation from the staff of the offending company, further said that the food and confectionary outlet will continue to remain close to allow for proper investigation.

“They will be investigated by the Federal Taskforce on Fake and Counterfeit Drugs and Unwholesome Processed Foods, and at the end of investigation, files submitted will be reviewed and after evaluation, we would send them to our legal department and we will be advised on what to do by the legal and if we have enough facts, then we will now proceed for prosecution,” he added.

But a twisted press statement meant to obfuscate the truth as well as, deceive the members of the public, the management of Chocolat Royal, on Wednesday, presented the invasion of its premises by NAFDAC as a normal routine check, trivialising the incident as nothing serious.

Not only did they denied ever using the expired products discovered to prepare consumables for their customers but stated that the expired food products were discovered in their “cupboard”

Instead of admitting that it was the Chairman’s house located at Karimu Kotun, VI that was invaded and expired food products discovered in large quantity and evacuated, the statement said it was one of their directors’ resident.

“The items found were never used in preparing food or confectionaries.

“As corporate citizens, we will work with NAFDAC to ensure that these issues are promptly resolved and any breaches if any are remedied,” the statement reads in part.

Meanwhile the Director General of NAFDAC, Mr Paul Orhii who arrived Lagos from Abuja earlier Wednesday after inspecting the fake and expired food products evacuated from Chocolat Royal, Thursday morning at NAFDAC enforcement office Apapa, said that the matter will be thoroughly investigated and the people involved prosecuted if found culpable.

“As you can see, these products are not even registered, not only are they not registered, they have expired, some in 2004 and they are not even written in English language, so they could not have been registered.

“Not only that, you also noticed that the case is not only that the products have expired, some about 11 years ago, but they attempted to revalidate them, which is also a serious offence.

“They were caught in the process of using these expired products, so after investigation we will begin the prosecution. Anybody can build a cold room anywhere provided the place is not prohibited, but in this case, I understand that there was a cold room on top of sewage; suck away pit, of course you cannot use that kind of cold room to store stocks that you are going to use for the production of food for the members of the public, so that is an offence,” he said.

Ohii said that Chocolat Royal sealed outlet will remain close until investigation is concluded adding that compliance with NAFDAC regulation must be ensured first, before the issue of reopening of the outlet will be discussed, but not anytime soon.

He however thanked the journalist for his courage and the investigation which led to the operation urging the members of the public to provide NAFDAC with any useful information that could help them in their operation.

He noted that the Agency is making every effort to rid the Nigeria’s society of fake and substandard regulated products.

“We appreciate the role of the press in assisting us in our regulatory activities and we will ensure that all matters relating to fake and unregistered products are decisively dealt with and culprits brought to justice,” Orhii added.

Investigation carried out has shown that minimum of 5000 Nigerians and foreign nationals patronise the three Chocolat Royal outlets in 267A Etim Iyang Crescent, VI, Shoprite and Lekki. When calculated, It simply means that estimated 150,000 people are poisoned every month and 1.8million people every year.

In all it could be said that, Chocolat Royal has contributed to at least 10% of complicated health problems witnessed in Nigeria in the last 15 years based on the terrifying quantities of unregistered and expired food products discovered and evacuated in their cold rooms and stores.

A medical practitioner, Dr Bassey Richard who spoke to our correspondent on phone when asked to give insight on the health implication of consuming expired food products, said that consumption of fake and expired food products can cause food poisoning and very dangerous especially to pregnant women and infants.

“Eating expired food products will likely lead to food poisoning. Food poisoning consists of diarrhea and vomiting that can last for weeks, lead to fever and in some extreme cases to death.

“When it has to do with foods prepared with fruits such as nuts, apples and grapes, growth known as mycotoxins can occur, which can cause itchiness, diarrhea, vomiting and dizziness. It is not advisable to eat expired food products,” he said.