Tina Mensah and board chairman of the FDA officially opening the lab
The Food & Drugs Authority (FDA) has built a new mini laboratory at the Tema Port as part of its commitment to facilitate trade at the port.
The laboratory is expected to check for counterfeit medicine, infectious frozen foods, among others, to fast-track clearing of products with the adoption of quick test methods.
For effective running, the facility has been furnished with equipment such as hatch incubator, vortex mixer, centrifuge, dry bath, stomacher circulator and GPHF test kits.
The consumer product mini lab will deliver critical support services required from a laboratory, including access to technical experts and latest micro-biological and analytical equipment and rapid turn-around times that reduce time to market and sample pick-up.
It will also fulfil testing, certification, technical assistance, audit, inspection and verification needs for all agencies at the port.
The FDA is mandated by the Public Health Act, 2012, Act 851 to ensure that all food, drugs, cosmetics, medical devices, household chemicals and tobacco products are of good quality and safe for users.
Speaking recently at the opening of the laboratory at the Tema Fishing Harbour, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of FDA, Delese Darko, stated that the opening of the lab at the port is part of the FDA’s effort to ensure the protection of the general public and to facilitate trade in the port with the testing of imported products locally unlike previously where products must travel to the headquarters.
According to her, the laboratory will be manned by competent technical officers who will be conducting randomly testing sampled regulated products to ascertain their quality and safety before being allowed into the Ghanaian market.
“Products of suspicious nature would also be tested at the facility to ensure their quality and safety. For effective running of the facility, state-of-the-art laboratory equipment have been installed to ensure quality and safe products for use by consumers,” she indicated.
The CEO promised to equip the lab with all the required equipment and human resource for the effective running of the facility.
The Deputy Minister of Health, Tina Mensah, congratulated the FDA for taking steps to hasten testing and regulation of products imported into the country.
She cautioned the FDA to ensure the laboratory performs its required services needed to protect consumers to accelerate clearing of cargo at the Tema Port.
Madam Mensah expressed government’s readiness to ensure that the facility is adequately resourced with the required logistics to render its services, calling for support of the all state agencies and relevant bodies for the laboratory to offer conformity assessment activities.
From Vincent Kubi, Tema