According to Mrs Francisca Patoah Agyarko, a Principal Regulatory Officer at the Office, under the initiative, personnel of the Authority undertook random visits and outreaches to the various markets to also check the manufacturing and expiry dates of cosmetics, food, and drugs.

“This is to help rid the market of fake, unregistered, expiry and adulterated products to protect the public,” she told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview in Sunyani.

Mrs Agyarko said the exercise was necessitated due to the polarized nature of the Ghana-Cote D’Ivoire borders in the region, which was contributing to smuggling of some unwholesome products in the country.

She urged consumers to remain vigilant and endeavour to check the expiry dates and logos of the FDA whenever they intended to buy products, particularly oil, rice, canned products, and medications.

Mrs Agyarko also appealed to the public to provide information about suspected traders engaged in smuggling of food items to the Authority, saying “we need the collective support of everybody to rid the market of contaminated products”.