Subject agro-products to quarantine checks, says NIQS

The Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Service (NIQS), has warned exporters of snails and other agricultural products to subject the goods to quarantine inspection and certification before dispatch or risk having the items seized and destroyed.

The Director, Animal Quarantine Department, NAQS, Idris Dakat, said food and agricultural products that evaded local pre-export verification of conformity formalities were liable to enforced wastage abroad.

“The commodities must be subjected for inspection whether they were being used for personal or trade purposes, as such items could be destroyed once they arrived at the destination country if not certified.”

According to a statement issued in Abuja on Sunday, by the agency’s Head of Media, Communication and Strategies, Chigozie Nwodo, stated that Dakat was reacting to a recent export fiasco in which 15 Nigerian giant land snails were impounded by United States Customs and Border Protection.

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