FDA Destroys 300 Cartons of 'Litty Mackerel and Tomato Sauce'

The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) on Monday destroyed over 300 cartons of 'Litty mackerel and tomato sauce' as the products were spotted unwholesome for consumption.

All the 317 cartons of 'Litty mackerel and tomato' sauce were crushed by a bulldozer at the Nsumia Landfill Site near Nsawam.

The Authority has, therefore, warned the public to desist from patronising the product until further notice.

In an interview with the Ghana News Agency, Mrs Gloria Ackon, the Principal Regulatory Officer at the Food Division of the FDA, said the destruction was necessitated by the harmful effects associated with consuming such unwholesome products.

She said the Authority was informed of the unwholesome products and efforts were made to retrieve the products in collaboration with the Ghana Police Service and the Accra Metropolitan Assembly.

She said upon reaching the market place on Friday, January 18, the products were seen in blotted cans, some heavily dented and others having its fluid leaking, which prompted the process for immediate confiscation.

The Regulatory Officer said on January 24, some consumers and retailers voluntarily submitted cartons of the products in their custody.

She said it had become necessary to destroy the products to prevent them from being consumed by the unsuspecting public.

Mrs Ackon told GNA that the products were not registered with the FDA and also had no batch number, adding that the inscription on the can indicated that the products originated from the Peoples Republic of China and purposely produced for the Ghanaian market.

She said through the collaboration with the Police Service two suspects have been apprehended and investigations are ongoing to ascertain how the products entered the country with FDA certification.

She urged all consumers and retailers in possession of the aforementioned products to as a matter of urgency, submit them to the FDA to prevent any form of food poisoning that may be engineered through the consumption of such unwholesome products.

Mrs Ackon urged the public to be vigilant and report any such product to aid in the effort to reduce the consumption of such unwholesome products.

She urged all consumers of FDA-regulated products to always inquire from importers or distributors of the Authority's registration number or certificate to know the extent of the product's approval.

---GNA