The Viral List NAFDAC Never Sent: Why a Social Media Panic Has Been Officially Debunked Every now and then, a piece of content tears through WhatsApp groups and social media timelines with the force of a wildfire. A list. A long, intimidating list. According to the caption, it’s a compilation of everyday products in Nigerian markets that have supposedly been declared fake, adulterated, or substandard by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control. Cue the mass panic. People start screenshotting, forwarding, and frantically checking whether their favourite seasoning, skincare product, or bottled drink is on the “exposed”…

Think about the last time you stood in a supermarket aisle, trying to decide what to feed your family. Maybe you picked up a packet and checked the label. Maybe you remembered something you read online, or something a friend told you, or something you saw in your social media feed. In that moment, you were doing exactly what food safety regulators hope you would do: trying to make an informed choice. But the information you were drawing on may not have been accurate. As the Chief Executive of the Food Standards Agency, I have been thinking a lot about…