The Food and Drug Authority (FDAacting )‘s eastern regional head, Madam Anita Owusu-Kuffour, has urged the people to buy wholesome items from licensed food establishments throughout and after the holiday season.
“People spend most of their time having fun outside and purchasing consumables during this time of year, so if you find yourself at a bar, store, or restaurant, look for a food hygiene permit,” she suggested.
Madam Owusu-Kuffour, speaking to the Ghana News Agency in Koforidua, urged the people to be on the lookout for, “food hygiene permit that is sometimes found hanging at the wall of the facility.”
She said that the FDA was inspired by its slogan, “Your well-being, our Priority,” to work towards ensuring that people ate well in safe and sanitary environments.
To guarantee proper public protection against the consumption of unwholesome food, the FDA launched a “safe disposal exercise,” during which it destroyed four tonnes of non-conforming items considered hazardous to public health, she added.
She explained that the items, which included canned foods, cosmetics, medical devices, and household chemical substances, were gathered through market surveillance in the Eastern Region, and that some manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers voluntarily brought expired products to the office for safe disposal.
Non-conforming materials, she added, were burned, while others were crushed with excavators and buried in the Akwadum dumping site.
Madam Owusu-Kuffour stated that pre- and post-market monitoring on regulated items was part of the FDA’s operations and was carried out as needed.
The FDA’s mission is to protect public health by ensuring the safety, quality, and efficacy of human and veterinary drugs, food, biological products, cosmetics, medical devices, household chemical substances, clinical trials, and tobacco product control through the enforcement of relevant standards.