The Northern Regional Director for the Food and Drug Authority (FDA), Martin Kusi, has advised manufacturers to be mindful of defective labelling to avoid disqualification of their products.
Speaking at a training workshop on labelling and standards compliance organised by the Global Shea Alliance and supported by the UNIDO-WACOMP, he stated that substandard labelling has been a key reason for the disqualification of some products.
The SME training workshop in Tamale brought together some fifty shea cosmetic and personal care base actors.
“What we have seen is that, most of the manufacturers don’t come to enquire about the requirements that are in place, for instance, the local manufacturers produce and come with labels that are defective; like labels without batch numbers, manufacturing date, location address for the manufacturer. In that case, it will be difficult for FDA to certify and approve the product to be put on the market”.
Local manufacturers on the other hand, bemoaned the laborious process involved in registering and certification of their product; a situation they reckon deters many from certifying their products.
With this, Charles Kuranchie, the Chief Scientific Officer of the Ghana Standards Authority, contrasted their stance by intimating that, “sometimes people don’t do their homework well and feel that when they apply for it, tomorrow they can come for it. It’s a process and there is a review of the application to make sure the information submitted is adequate”.
Additionally, he disclosed that, the labelling goes through vetting to “make sure you are not providing any misleading claim; the information is accurate, because there is an inspection aspect of it and when we finish we test. People tend to feel it’s lengthy”.
Corroborating his statement, the member project manager for GSA, Prince Nunoo, responded that the essence of the training is to provide these local manufacturers with detailed knowledge on the basics of products registration.
“We are providing training for fifty Ghanaian SMEs to understand the export process, registration process that goes into product certification as they seek to export their products into the international market”.
Meanwhile, the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) in the Eastern Region has destroyed 5 tonnes of unwholesome products which was deemed a risk to the health of consumers.
The products included expired and unregistered assorted food items, substandard and expired medicines, unregistered cosmetic products, and unregistered herbal concoctions, expired blood collection bags and expired assorted carbonated drinks.
The Head of Enforcement at the FDA, Mr. Joseph Yeboah Gyau, said the products were seized through post-market surveillance activities conducted at pharmacies and chemical shops, warehouses, supermarkets, cosmetic and provision shops as well as medical laboratories across the region.
Mr. Gyau, urged the public to be alert by checking the expiration and manufacturing dates of items before purchasing them to ensure their safety.
“Occasionally, some goods are able to beat Customs to get onto shelves and shops across the country. Some of the smuggled goods expire quickly on the shelves and that is why we urge all consumers to be alert and check expiry dates of products anytime they go out to shop”.
