The Minister of Health, Isaac Adewole, said the two beverages, manufactured by the Nigeria Bottling Company, NBC, are safe for human consumption but cannot be taken with any drug.
The minister stated these on Friday, after a meeting with the Department of Food and Drug Services, Federal Ministry of Health; National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC; and Standards Organisation of Nigeria, SON; to address the concerns raised over the drinks by a judgement of a Lagos High Court.
The Court had ordered NAFDAC to direct the Nigeria Bottling Company Plc to include a warning on the bottles of the products that the contents cannot be taken with Vitamin C.
The judgment was on a suit filed by a Lagos-based businessman, Emmanuel Adebo, against NBC Plc and NAFDAC.
In his suit, Mr Adebo urged the court to declare that NBC was negligent to its consumers by bottling Fanta and Sprite with excessive levels of benzoic acid and sunset additives.
He had tried to export Nigeria-produced Fanta and Sprite to the UK, where they were described as poisonous by authorities there and destroyed.
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