The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) has called on members of the public to look out for expiry dates of products as they shop for Christmas.
Mr Sebastian Mawuli Hotor, the Upper East Regional FDA Director disclosed that usually when it gets to the end of the year and Christmas, those whose products are nearing expiration, reduce their prices and sell, with the danger that some products could be expired.
He said with such expired products, the tendency among some members of the public to consume those expired products were high, adding that the cost of the products usually made it difficult for some people to discard them.
Mr Hotor made the call in an interaction with the media.
He noted that it was not illegal for anybody to sell products nearing expiration dates at cheaper prices, stressing that it is only illegal for them to sell expired products.
He emphasised that it behoves on us the consumers to watch out and buy little quantities that can be consumed before the expiry date approaches.
He said there is nothing like grace period after expiry. Once the product is expired, it is expired for good.
The Director said officials of the FDA in the Region had been active since the beginning of the year until the COVID-19 pandemic set in, which compelled them to reduce the number of officials on the field they are now doing full operations with full staff and are back on the market. He assured the public that on daily basis the FDA does market surveillance, looking out for expired, unregistered and unwholesome products to get them off the market.
He said more importantly, officials of the FDA also embarked on intensive education in the markets, because when the consumer and the distributors are aware of the dangers of displaying or putting on the market unwholesome products, they would appreciate the dangers.
The Director added that their market surveillance activity for this year’s Christmas is packed with public education, in order to spend more time in the shops and interact more with consumers.
By:Isaac Clottey
