Hohoe (V/R)-Ghana, Nov. 14, GNA – The Hohoe Environmental and Sanitation Department has destroyed expired food products seized from some traders in the Municipality to protect public health.
The products include tins of tomato sauce, bottles of mayonnaise, crates of assorted soft and alcoholic drinks, wines, bottles of milo, cooking oil, paper drinks, sachets of spices and margarine.
Mr Emmanuel Yawlui, the Hohoe Municipal Health Officer, speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA), during the exercise said the Department was responsible for food safety and therefore looked at food and drink products and made sure they were in good condition to be sold out to the public.
“Most often, we have realised that the food and drink that are sold to the public are not good because some of them are expired.”
He said the Health and Sanitation officers often go to various shops and selling points to inspect the goods that were in stock to make sure they were safe for consumption.
Mr Yawlui said for the past two months, they had undertaken exercises to inspect stocks of shop owners, adding that they wanted to make sure that people bought good food for their families and prevent infection since the festive season was drawing close where a lot of people would be making food purchases.
He said the expired food items were collected from shop owners while educating them that it was their responsibility to make sure that they sold old stock anytime they made new stocks.
Mr Yawlui noted that some shop owners kept food products in their shops and could not sell early leading to their expiration.
He advised the public to always look for expiry dates of any canned or bottled product they wanted to purchase.
Mr Yawlui said if not for their presence and checks, the seized products would have been sold to the public, adding that they would continue their inspection and educate both the consuming public and the sellers.
He advised retailers to also check expiry dates of food products from wholesalers and be wary of almost expired products which would be harmful to society.
Mr Yawlui noted that the seizure was not the first and they would continue to embark on such inspection for public safety.
Some of the seized products that were being sold expired in 2020 and 2021.
Mr Roger Kwashie Adjei, Assistant Chief Environmental Health Officer, noted that it was also the right of the consumer to demand the medical certificate of food vendors when they were buying food to ensure that the seller was medically fit.
He said Officers in other communities in the Municipality would also embark on the inspection exercise to clear off shops of expired products.
Information gathered showed that some sellers intentionally place the expired products for sale due to fear of running into loses while others also used blades to clean the manufacturing and expiry dates on their expired products.
