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27.04.2015 Social News

B/A FDA office trains operators on GWPs/GSPs

27.04.2015 LISTEN
By GNA


Sunyani, April 27, GNA - The Brong-Ahafo Regional Office of the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA), has held a training programme for warehouse operators, to ensure Good Warehouse Practices (GWPs) and Good Storage Practices (GSPs) in the region.

The training aimed at educating the operators of warehouses/storage facilities on the Public Health Act, 2012 (Act 851) in relation to sale/storage of products, the licensing of storage facilities, and the processes involved in the licensing of their storage facilities with the FDA.

It was also to assist the warehouse operators to acquire the knowledge and skills required to ensure their compliance with GWP/GSP and 'creating wealth for those warehouse owners when they succumb to GWPs and GSPs, as well as stocking permissible products'.

Addressing the participants, Mr. Matthew Gyang Nkum, Brong-Ahafo Regional Officer of FDA, said as part of the activities of his outfit to safeguard public health and safety, their periodic audit inspections conducted at warehouses/storage facilities revealed most warehouse operators were not GWP/GSP compliant.

Mr. Nkum, however, explained that the safety and quality of packaged products were usually guaranteed when those products were transported and stored under the storage conditions stated on the labels.

Through the activities of the operators, those products reached the final consumer and therefore implied those warehouses now served as an intermediary between the manufacturers and the final consumers, he said.

Mr. Nkum emphasized that the conditions under which products were transported and stored 'become a matter of great concern, so that products will not be contaminated or become unwholesome before reaching the final consumer'.

He, nevertheless, expressed concern that 'the Authority has noticed so many infractions during products distribution chain' and cited among the notable infractions as 'poor stacking discipline-against the wall, packed up to the ceiling, packed close to each other, storing products on the bare floor and stacking food and non-food products together '.

Other infractions, Mr. Nkum added, were 'poor ventilation and illumination which usually hinder cleanliness and impair visibility and poor documentation and records'. GNA

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