Accra, June 20, GNA - Mr. Kwamena Van Ess, Deputy Chief Executive in-charge of the Food Division, Food and Drugs Board (FDB), on Wednesday urged Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) which deal with food and drugs to register with the Board.

He explained that the FDB still had the mandate to register and regulate activities of companies and industries which produced and exported food and drugs, saying the current confusion between the Board and the Ghana Standards Board in the area of overlapping of functions should not be an excuse for non-compliance of the law. Mr. Van Ess, who was addressing a media forum organised by the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) on the topic: "The Role of the Food and Drugs Board in the Promotion of Micro and Small Scale Enterprises," said the FDB under its Universal Support Department had various programmes that assisted Small and Medium Scale businesses with training and relevant information for their expansion.

"We have over the years organised training programmes and had certified various SMS businesses to specialise and adopt the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP), a strategy for food safety control."

He, however, expressed worry over the fact that most Ghanaian-owned businesses had not expressed any interest in the offer, either through ignorance of the facility or by a display of share apathy. "It is pathetic that most of our quarterly training programmes have been dominated by foreign businessmen."

Mr Van Ess mentioned lack of focus, poor management of funds and failure of such small and medium scale businesses to employ the services of qualified experts as one major challenge to the poor level of growth in the sector.

He stated that, just as basic start-up capital was important for the establishment of new businesses, the acquisition of enhanced knowledge on business management and other techniques to scale up performance for optimum growth were very necessary. He called on the media to promote dialogue between the FDB and the SME industrial sector to help eliminate the challenges that often emerged out of share ignorance of the law.

Mr Van Ess further advised producers of traditional herbal medicine to follow laid down regulations and processes for testing of their products before sale, saying the Board would not compromise on instances where people flouted the law by selling dangerous and uncertified herbal concoctions.