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The Food and Drug Authority (FDA) has warned the public to scrutinize products that are sold at ridiculously low prices before purchasing.
Buyers should check expiration dates and quality standards so as not to compromise their health and safety.
The advice was given by Mr. John Odai-Tettey, Central Regional Director of the Authority, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Cape Coast, saying that it was not enough just to check the expiration dates of the products.
“The storage conditions of products, packaging, among others, must be determined before purchasing,” he also warned.
Consumers were also encouraged to stay away from products in direct sunlight, especially oil and canned goods, and to report any unregistered and suspicious counterfeit products to the Authority.
Mr. Odai-Tettey told the vendors to keep their products at required temperatures, observe proper storage systems, and voluntarily hand over their expired products to the Authority for safe disposal.
Caterer service providers were also encouraged to apply for a food hygiene permit from the Authority and to observe good hygiene, storage and distribution practices.
He announced that the Authority had activated a system that would help collect unused drugs for disposal and effectively discourage self-medication.
“The measure called” Project for the recovery of unwanted drugs “seeks to recover all” illegally discarded drugs that persist in the environment and decompose into harmful chemicals that pollute the environment. Consumers should take all unused medications to the Authority or selected pharmacies for safe disposal, ”said Mr. Odai-Tettey.
He warned against buying drugs, especially in places, shops, businesses, street vendors of non-certified drugs, and urged the public to buy from accredited and designated pharmacies or dispensaries.
“We encourage everyone not to buy drugs from bus stations, vehicles, market traders and street drug vendors,” adding that his surveillance team was going around to flog these people.
“Taking medications without the advice of a health worker could pose a serious threat to the human body, especially when they are not taken for their intended purpose,” he said.
The regional director of the FDA declared that people who violated the law had the possibility of losing all of their products or being charged with a minimum administrative fine of GH ¢ 25,000.00 or being imprisoned, he warned.
Odai-Tettey, thanked the Authority staff for their hard work and dedication throughout the year despite the challenges that the novel Covid-19 pandemic unleashed around the world and prayed for a better 2021.
Previously, the Authority’s Central Regional Office hosted a festival of nine lessons and carols to commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ with melodious carols by the FDA Regional Blessed Choir.
— GNA
