The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) on Tuesday cautioned the public to be vigilant when purchasing food and medical items, especially during this festive season to avoid unwholesome products.

It is urging the public to physically look out for the expiry date, batch number, and blotted canned foods to avoid food poising.

Mrs Delese Mimi Darko, Chief Executive Officer of FDA sounded the caution at a day’s workshop on Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP), organised by the Pharmaceutical Association of Ghana (PMAG) in Accra.

The event is part of efforts by the PMAG and the FDA to address some of the deficiencies such as Premises and Quality Management Systems in the industry as part of the roadmap gap.

Mrs Darko noted that the Authority, together with other stakeholders, had intensified monitoring to ensure that fake product was raided off shelves. “This is a job we have been doing throughout the year. What is critical now is for the public to be observant and alert when making a purchase,” she stated.

Commenting on a recent study she said another assessment of four local manufacturers of antimalarial medicines conducted in November 2017, highlighted a series of GMP gaps with the manufacturing facilities inspected.

Mrs Darko stated that the GMP deficiencies would require a lot of resources, which includes but not limited to financial commitments and human resource capacity development.

Mr Ernest Bediako-Sampong, President of PMAG, said the GMP workshop would help players improve quality and quantity in the pharmaceutical sector.

He remarked that medicine security was essential and the growth of the sector affects all sectors of the economy through taxes, healthy life and employment generation.

While applauding the government for instituting a regulation on restricted drug list and assisting five of its members to boost their operations, he appealed for more support to increase quantity from about 35 to 80 per cent of production locally.