The Foods and Drugs Authority (FDA) in the Western Region has seized and destroyed unwholesome drugs and other sub-standard products on the market worth sums of money imported illegally by traders.
The unwholesome items which were either expired, illegally imported into the country, fake or unregistered were burnt to ashes at the Sofokrom Final Waste Disposal Site to prevent them from finding their way back to the markets.
The items include herbal mixtures, canned foods that were bloated, various sexual enhancement drugs, groceries and ointments among others and seized from peddlers, shops, traffickers and importers in the region and at the Port.
Briefing the Ghana News Agency, Mr Prince Ebo, a Regulatory Officer at the Western Regional office of the FDA said that the safe disposal of the items followed recent post-market surveillance conducted by the Authority.
He said the items were seized from traders in the Western and Western North Regions from the period under review, spanning from September to December 2021.
He expressed concern over the growing incidence of a large number of women peddling pharmaceuticals of dubious origin on the streets and said the FDA would fight that nasty trend ruthlessly and definitely bring perpetrators to book.
He cautioned the members of the public to be wary of the sale and purchase of expired, fake and unregistered products on the markets and advised them not to be concerned only on the expiry dates, but should also check the state of the product.
“Watch what you are buying like the state or nature of the product, having registration markings like expiry date, best before, manufacturing date, storage condition, use or indication, not dented, bloated, defaced markings or tampered red date markings such as a date with different font size or colour”, he added.
Mr Ebo implored the members of the public to report any product that they may have doubts about at the Authority’s office located next to the Ghana Post office at the Harbour.
He further advised that products with user instructions in other languages rather than English should be avoided since consumers may not know how such products work or what content they may be.
Source: GNA
