FDB Eastern/Volta destroys more unwholesome items in 2010 than 2009

The value of unwholesome and unregistered manufactured foods, beverages, and medicines destroyed by the Volta and Eastern Zonal Office of the Food and Drugs Board (FDB), rose significantly from GHC 10,626.72 in 2009 to GHC 45,687.75 in 2010.

The increase is as a result of the volumes of intercepted unwholesome food items at the zone’s new offices at Akanu and Segbe-junction and Aflao borders with Togo.

Mr Roderick Daddey-Adjei, Eastern and Volta Zonal Officer of the Board, was speaking to the Ghana News (GNA), on Wednesday, during the destruction of the last batch of such items, at the garbage disposal site of the Ho Municipal Assembly at Tritrinu, at the outskirts of Ho.

The items in the batch destroyed include medicines, herbal concoctions, soft drinks, energy drinks, and Cornflakes.

Mr Daddey-Adjei said the items were picked from the shelves of shops and that others, such as sachet water, which is classified as foods, were destroyed at the scene of the seizures.

He said the regularity and volumes of aphrodisiacs seized suggest that there was an increase in its usage, and cautioned that such drugs could be rather dangerous preparations.

Mr Daddey-Adjei said cartons of a faked brand of a popular powdered detergent were among items destroyed.

He appealed to consumers and traders to check the labels on every item carefully before buying or accepting to sell them.

He said there were 85 fully registered sachet water companies in the Eastern Region, as against 60 in the Volta Region and observed that some people were embossing registration data of regularized brands on their unregistered products.

Owners of seized items, who were invited to the witness their destruction failed to turn up.

Source: GNA