The Director at the Inspectorate of the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA), Maria Lovelace-Johnson, has warned Ghanaians to desist from buying foods and products whose labels are not written in English.
According to her, such products are not certified and approved by the authority.
Speaking with Max Morning Dew in Accra on Tuesday, Maria explained that products that unlawfully entered the country without the owners acting with due diligence pose some health risks to consumers.
She observed that such products were mostly written in Arabic, Spanish, and other unknown foreign languages and cautioned the public against such unapproved products.
“Just for clarification sake, any product not written in our well known language, English then it means it did not pass through the right channel for us to test to know its health values before approving. Ghanaians should therefore be aware of this in order not to buy canned products with Arabic or Spanish labels,” Maria stated.
She indicated that her outfit always does safety testing on foods and products that come into the country, to the extent of the FDA inspecting the factory that manufactured the products, putting into consideration stability data, shelf life, and relative humidity, among others.
For the public to be cautious, Maria further advised them to avoid purchasing canned products that are dented, rusted, or bloated.
“I entreat consumers to ensure that products they consume are safe by always checking for the expiry/best-before/use-by dates on pre-packaged foods, products without date markings should be totally avoided,” she added.
Maria indicated that food safety was a collective effort and charged the public to blow the whistle when they noticed sellers who prepare foods in unhygienic places or sell in unhygienic conditions.
In the fight for public safety, she said her outfit has been working hand in hand with the local assembly since 2011 to grant vending site permits and even inspect preparation sites before giving out permits.
“We are doing our quota. We have the mandate to protect public health, and we are carrying out our mandate to the latter. This is a collective effort so consumers and the public must complement our efforts by reporting sellers flouting safety rules and also to desist from buying foods prepared under unhygienic conditions,” she added.
Source: Ghana/MaxTV/MaxFM/max.com.gh/Joyceline Natally Cudjoe
