The Rwanda Food and Drugs Authority (Rwanda FDA) has closed 101 alcohol-producing factories across the country over failure to comply with quality and safety requirements, including a government-backed company that produced Ikigage, a traditional sorghum-based beverage.
The affected companies had their licences revoked following inspections carried out by Rwanda FDA to assess compliance with regulations governing the production of alcoholic beverages.
Among the factories closed is Southern Province Investment Corporation (SPIC Ltd), which produced Ituro Ikigage and had received significant government investment. The company had the capacity to produce up to 20,000 litres of Ikigage per day.
Also affected is SECULA Ltd, a company that recently won an award for excellence at Agrishow 2026, an agriculture and livestock exhibition.
In a statement issued on Monday, Rwanda FDA said the measures were taken to protect public health and ensure that alcoholic beverages available on the market meet required safety standards.
The authority ordered the immediate withdrawal of all products from the affected companies from the market and instructed manufacturers to coordinate with distributors to collect remaining stocks and return them to production facilities.
The companies have been given three working days to submit reports on the collection exercise, while distributors and retailers were directed to immediately stop selling or distributing the affected products.
Rwanda FDA also ordered the removal of all advertisements promoting alcoholic beverages produced by the suspended companies and warned that failure to comply with the directives would attract further legal action.
The regulator said monitoring and enforcement operations are continuing, with additional inspections expected to identify other companies that may not be meeting required standards.
The latest action follows Rwanda FDA’s earlier suspension of eight alcohol producers and the temporary halt of new applications for importing ethanol, also known as neutral spirit, as part of efforts to strengthen control over alcoholic beverage production and protect consumers.
