FDB DESTROYS EXPIRED GOODS (PAGE 55)

THE Takoradi Zonal Office of the Food and Drugs Board (FDB) destroyed expired goods and unwholesome products worth GH¢60,483 during the first quarter of this year.
A week ago, the office destroyed 1,000 cartons of expired canned drinks and pharmaceuticals.
The board also detected fake Zentel 200mg drugs on the market and has started its withdrawal from the market.
So far about 489 packets have been withdrawn from the market.
The Zonal Manager of the FDB, Mr George Pentsil, announced this at the heads of departments meeting in Sekondi.
He said through the FDB, iodised salt had now come to stay, explaining that the use of iodised salt corrected iodine deficiency disorders such as goitre and cretinism.
For this reason, he said the board had supplied test kits to all police and the Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) checkpoints within the Western and Central regions to test all salt being transported to other parts of the country to ensure that they were iodised.
“Non-iodised salts are confiscated and drivers/owners detained and prosecuted in line with the Food and Drug Amendment Act 523, 1996,” he explained.
"There is also weekly monitoring and testing of flour mills to ensure that the flour was incorporated with multi-vitamin premix, which is now a national policy," he added.
He said following series of educational lectures and sensitisation programmes for members of the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU), the sale of products in vehicles and at various stations had reduced drastically.
Mr Pentsil said the board had set up the Western Regional Food Safety Advisory Committee to enable the various stakeholders to make inputs, share information and develop strategies which would ensure improved food safety in the food supply chain within the region.
Opening the meeting earlier, the Western Regional Minister, Mr A. E. Amoah, urged the heads of departments to begin thinking about measures they could put in place to cope with the influx of people into the region as a result of the oil find.
"For instance, there may be an increase in the demand for schools, hospitals, water facilities, power supply, food, among others, as the towns grow,” he said.