FDB destroys fake, expired food products

George Sipa Yankey, Minister of Health

Large quantities of expired and fake food products seized from the markets were Thursday destroyed by the Food and Drugs Board (FDB) as part of a national exercise to rid the country of such goods.

The items included beverages, tin foods, crates of schnapps, fruit juice, packets of food additives, cooking oil, baked beans, baby food, biscuits and candies, among others.

Most of the items were imported from Togo and Nigeria and because the board had for sometime waged war on aphrodisiacs, most of the dealers have-shifted their focus to trading in fake food products.

Briefing the media after tire exercise at the Mallam landfill site in Accra, the acting head of the Board's Food Inspectorate Department, Kofi Essel, said the Board was worried about the volume of fake products that had found their way into the country.

He said to ensure the safety of the general public, especially consumers, the board occasionally embarked on rigorous exercises to seize such items on the market.

Mr. Essel said the health of the public was paramount and the board would not sit down for such an activity to go on to endanger consumers' health.

Mr Essel said traders sometimes, relabeled the products, a practice he described as danger bus.

He said the detection of such transactions was as a result of surveillance mechanisms that the board had put in place which enabled it to "monitor and locate where the goods are offloaded anytime they are brought to Accra.

Mr. Essel said the board in collaboration with other security agencies has intensified exercises to fight such trade and called on consumers, retailers, suppliers and other stakeholders to join forces to flush out counterfeit products on the market.