KMA task-force seizes expired products from shops

A task-force from the Environmental Health and Sanitation Department of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly has seized bottled and canned drinks due to expire.

The task-force, which is on a monitoring exercise within the Kumasi metropolis detected that the expiry dates on some of the drinks in some shops had elapsed.

The exercise according to the task-force is to clamp down on shop owners who sell expired products.

The task-force has been seizing expired products from some shops since January 2018.

Some of the offenders are currently before the court, while a bench warrant has also been issued for the arrest other offenders who are at large.

At the Sainsbury Investment Limited, the team seized mixed drinks in cans and bottles.

Some of the products they found on the shelves of the shops expired in 2017.

The Head of Food Hygiene at the Environmental Health and Sanitation Department of the KMA, Alhaji Adam Sumaila, said the owner of the shop risk being prosecuted and the shop closed down.

“The exercise is to help all those who buy the expired products, and don’t know where and how to report or file a complaint. The Mayor put up the task-force to go round and clear all expired products on the market. The expired products that have been seized would be sent to our office, and offenders would be prosecuted, and their shops would be closed down,” he said.

He advised the public to be wary of expired products in the market.

The Assembly will soon dispose off all expired products seized by the task-force.

In 2017, the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA), seized over a metric ton of expired goods including medicines, beverages and baby foods from various shops in Koforidua and some districts across the region.

This was part of an operation to ensure the safety of the public during the Easter festivities.