Ghanaians Must Be Protected From Greedy Businesses - CPP

The Food and Drugs Board (FDB) confiscated several loads of contaminated and unwholesome food , drugs and other consumer products over the last 12months for which the FDB and in particular its Post Market Surveillance Unit, must be applauded and thanked for safeguarding Ghana’s public health.

Among these were 4,706 cartons of unwholesome weevil infested spaghetti offered for sale at First Gate Shopping Mall, Accra and distributed by Eakaza Limited. The FDB had informed the public that fungal growth in the unwholesome spaghetti can result in incidence of aflatoxin in the spaghetti which is known to be carcinogenic and thereby posing a health risk to consumers.

The FDB confiscated Titus sardines in vegetable oil and in tomato which on arrival at the Tema Harbour were bloated, rusted, with some of the cans leaking oil and others with defective can seams. The FDB had said that "These defects indicate very poor hermetic seaming during the canning process thereby compromising the safety and wholesomeness of the product."

Alcoholic beverages and other items produced under very unhygienic conditions was also among the list as was unregistered drinks, herbal medicines and expired products. So called “ herbal Charlatans” were exposed with the FDB noting that people who consume these unwholesome herbal products end up having medical complications like kidney and liver problems, that “These charlatans make the work of the genuine herbalists difficult because the public could eventually lose trust and confidence in genuine herbal products”

Many such products were said to be contravening Section 18 of the Food and Drugs Law, PNDCL 305B, which states that ‘No person shall manufacture, prepare, sell, supply, export or import into Ghana any drug, cosmetic, medical device or household chemical, unless the article has been registered with the Food and Drugs Board.

Among the big confiscations was the FDB’s Post Market Surveillance Unit find at the Bulk Cold Storage Facility of Sucatrade Limited in Tema, where the FDB confiscated 1,000 cartons of unwholesome chicken to prevent its entry into the food chain. Sucatrade, is a member of Finatrade Group of Companies, a group that are a virtual cartel at the heart of Ghana’s Sugar, Rice and Flour business.

The FDB had found the Sucatrade storage to be highly unhygienic in contravention of the Food and Drugs Law, which states: “Any person who sells, prepares, packages, conveys, stores or displays for sale any food under insanitary conditions commits an offence.” The FDB Laboratory (Microbiological) analysis of the chicken products showed heavy contamination by bacteria such as E. coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Thermo tolerant Coli forms. These micro-organisms rendered the chicken products unwholesome for human consumption. If consumed could lead to serious food poisoning, which is manifested in diarrhoea, vomiting and serious stomach cramp. Staphylococcus aureas will produce an entero-toxin in food contaminated with it, even when such food is cooked.

The toxin would persist and cause inflammation of the gastrointestinal lining of the consumer, causing a disease situation called staphylococcal food poisoning. The consumer will suffer from nausea, severe vomiting, diarrhoea and major stomach cramp.

The thermo tolerant coli forms, which were also detected in the product are bacteria that would withstand heating, this makes the food contaminated by the bacteria even more harmful when cooked and could cause food poisoning when consumed.

The heavy presence of these microorganisms rendered the chicken parts unwholesome for human consumption and thus posed a serious danger to public health.

In spite of the danger, Sucatrade had requested permission from the FDB to repackage the heavily contaminated consignment of chicken. A request which the FDB thankfully refused.

In January The Herald reported that 9, 000 metric tonnes of Sultana rice, had also been detected to be unwholesome for humans. It also reported that a Jocelyn Dzanie, in the Ashanti region, had bought a huge quantity of rice from the Kumasi branch of Market Direct Limited Ghana (MDLGhana) also owned by Finatrade, but upon opening the bags of rice, realized that the rice had caked and changed colour with weevils flying about.

Every attempt by Ms. Dzanie to retrieve her money or have the rice replaced by the company proved futile, forcing her to report the matter to the FDB for action to be taken against the company.

Clearly there are a group of companies operating in our market who for reasons of greed, total disregard for the health of our citizens or a total disrespect for Ghanaians flout all food safety laws, public health laws for their personal or corporate gain. This is a situation that is not acceptable to the Convention People’s Party.

The wholesome chicken consignment was subsequently destroyed and whilst the FDB had stated that it would continue monitoring operations of Bulk Cold Storage Facilities to ensure that they adhered strictly to good cold storage practices and assured the public that it would continue to protect public health and safety, it also admits that the distribution and sale of fake products (Food, Drugs (including herbal medicines), Cosmetics, Medical Devices and Household Chemicals) , unwholesome food distribution was an issue that the FDB has been battling with and continues to battle daily.

The FDB has stated on a number of occasions that it would ensure that persons found in these illegal and unscrupulous practices would be dealt with according to the law.

Section 1(a) of the Food and Drugs Law, 1992 (PNDCL 305B), states that: "any person that sells or offers for sale food that is unwholesome or unfit for human or animal consumption" commits an offence Labelling Regulation, LI 1541 requires that product information provided on the label of products intended for the Ghanaian market should be in English and the language of its origin.

A number of companies over the last 12 months would seem to have committed offences under PNDC Law 305B and several products on our markets are in breach of LI 1541.

The CPP would ask that action be taken and Companies Eakaza and Finatrade and the other smaller companies must be prosecuted to show greedy businesses that they will not be allowed to risk the health of Ghanaians for profit.

Nii Armah Akomfrah Director of Communication