Ho, May 23, GNA - Officials from the Volta and Eastern Region Zone of Foods and Drug Board (FDB) on Friday destroyed about 400 sacks of unwholesome sachet water in separate operations in Ho.

In the first operation, 220 sacks under the brand name "Kristar Filtered Water" were destroyed and the Managing Director of the company, Christian Hokey, ordered to stop production until he secured FDB certification.

In the Second operation about 144 bags of sachet water branded "Our Favourite Filtered Water" intercepted in Ho on Wednesday were destroyed. Mr Roderick Daddey-Adjei, Zonal Manager told journalists that FDB had passed the advocacy stage and was now set to deal with recalcitrant producers and distributors of unregistered foods and drugs. He asked the management of Kristar Filtered Water to relocate from their current premises near a hardware store that sent wafts of acrylic scents over their produce.

Mr Daddey-Adjei expressed concern about the attire of workers and the insanitary condition of the premises.

He said none of the workers had medical validations to clear them of communicable diseases as stipulated by law and the un-kept and poor handling practices raised "food safety concerns". "You are only bagging germs for the public to take as water," he lamented.

Mr Daddey-Adjei, ordered that the delivery truck which was on supply should return to the premises and the supply list handed over for the products to be withdrawn from the market. He said the FDB Charter now required prompt service for clients and the registration process could be completed within 30 days on receipt of the necessary documents and samples.

Mr Daddey-Adjei, said the producer of "Our Favourite Filtered Water" had been informed after inspection that the factory was not qualified to produce treated water but he ignored their directive and continued to produce. Earlier the officials inspected the premises of "Mount Zion Pure Water Company" whose products had been registered with the board. Mr Daddey-Adjei asked management to clean cobwebs in the factory premises, provide shutters for all lamps and revised their hand cleaning system or be sanctioned. At the Be-Still Enterprise, producers of "Be-Still Water" he directed that the door to the factory premises be fastened properly to prevent flies from entering. Mr Daddey-Adjei asked the employees to keep their bodies and environment clean as required by standards set for production. He told journalists that workers of sachet water producers were supposed to have some training, but regretted that even where they attended such training programmes they failed to implement what they were taught. Mr Daddey-Adjei said a major requirement on the factory line was the Ultra Violet Light (UVL) to give an indication that germs in the production process were being destroyed.

He said the workers were expected to put on headgears that would prevent hair strings from contaminating the products and the provision of soap dispensers and disposable towels to facilitate a cleaner hand cleaning process during production.

Mr Emmanuel Buahini, Production Manager of Be-Still Enterprise complained about the poor handling of water supplied to distributors and retailers.

He said sachet water deposited on the floors normally became contaminated by contact with moisture and recommended that dealers in sachet water should keep them on shelves.