The Foods and Drugs Authority (FDA) says it will sanction businesses and individuals who take advantage of the upcoming Christmas season to sell expired and substandard food products.

FDA is further urging the general public especially consumers of confectionery and frozen foods, to be on the lookout for expired products on the market before, during and after the Christmas and New Year season.

Stories of individuals purchasing expired goods during the Yuletide are often one too many.

As another festive season approaches, the country’s markets will be flooded with various items including soft drinks, biscuits and cakes, unfortunately, some of these products which sell at extremely low prices may be expired as some traders choose to put their wealth before the health of people.

The caution from the FDA has become even more necessary following the confiscation of some unwholesome goods by the authority in some parts of the country recently.

In an interview with Citi Business News, Head of Food Safety Department at the FDA Jocelyn Agyakwa Amusah said individuals found selling expired goods will be duly punished.

“Every year as you know, FDA will intensify its surveillance system. So currently we have auditors all around and as we get to the festive season, we intensify such operations so with the surveillance officers are looking out for products that are expired or bloated or dented. We look out for all these things and so these are things that we will ensure are off the shelves”, she said.

She added, “Once we realize that you are selling expired products, definitely the law will deal with you accordingly. In the first place you are not supposed to be selling products that have their expiry dates elapsing, so the law will definitely deal with you and there are a number of sanctions, so depending on what we see, it will be dealt with accordingly”.