The Central Regional office of the Food & Drugs Authority (FDA) has destroyed quantities of seized COA-FS food supplement and other assorted items declared as unwholesome to safeguard public health and safety.
The destroyed items valued at GH¢54,300 included all five brands of product areas regulated by the FDA ? food products, drugs mainly herbal, orthodox, medical devices and cosmetics.
The products were seized from markets, warehouses, shops, voluntary submission of expired products and manufacturing and retail shops through intensive market surveillance and swoop across the Region.
The Director in charge of FDA in Cape Coast, John Odai-Tettey, disclosed this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA).
He said the exercise is a wake-up call to all manufacturers, importers, individual shop owners, cold store owners and wholesalers to disengage in the sale of expired, fake and unregistered goods.
Mr. Odai-Tettey called on consumers to be bold and expose those dealing in unwholesome or expired items by reporting them to the authority for immediate action.
He said consumers must critically check the expiry date, batch number, labels of food items and legibility of the manufacturers before purchasing the products.
Mr. Odai-Tettey cautioned persons selling expired products to stop because when caught, sanctions or jail term awaits them depending on the quantity of the expired products on the market.
He further urged operators of food and drug manufacturers to always exercise good manufacturing practices and avail themselves for training and industrial support programmes routinely organised by the FDA and also license their operations and products to avoid the consequences.
–GNA