The Food and Drugs Board (FDB) wishes to alert the general public about the distribution and sale of fake Exeter Corned Beef on the market.

A statement, issued on Saturday by the FDB, and signed by the Chief Executive, Dr. Stephen K. Opuni, said investigations by FDB revealed that, two (2) different Corned Beef products, CB Corned Beef and Matador Corned Beef have been relabelled, by wrapping Exeter Corned Beef labels over the existing labels to deceive unsuspecting consumers into thinking that they are purchasing genuine Exeter Corned Beef.

The Food and Drugs Board wishes to inform the general public that the original Exeter Corned Beef permitted for sale in Ghana has a lithograph labelling, (i.e. the label is printed directly on the can and not on paper). The general public is therefore alerted to look out for this feature when buying any Exeter Corned Beef.

The statement said, evaluation of samples of the fake Exeter Corned Beef further revealed the following: Some of the cans have the original expiry dates cleaned and replaced with new fake expiry date of December, 2012 and in some instances the fake products had expired since January, 2008. Meanwhile the Food and Drugs Board, with assistance from the Ghana Police Service, has arrested one, Mr Kissi, who was found retailing the fake product at the Accra Central Business District (Okaishie) Zone 18, around the Fire Service area. Additionally, the general public is being assured that the Food and Drugs Board, with the assistance of the security agencies is doing everything possible to rid the market of any such fake corned beef.

It also cautioned distributors and retailers against the supply, display and sale of the fake Exeter Corned Beef, since such acts contravene Section 3 of the Food and Drugs Law, 1992 (PNDCL 305B), which states that: “any person who labels, packages, sells or advertises any food in a manner that is false, misleading or deceptive, as regards its character, nature, value, substance, quality, composition, merit or safety, commits an offence.”

The Food and Drugs Board (FDB) wishes to assure the general public of its resolve to protect public health and safety.

The general public is also advised to report any person(s) associated with the distribution of the fake Exeter Corned Beef or any other fake/imitated food product to the Food and Drugs Board on any of these telephone numbers: 0244-337235, 0244-337243, 0244-337247 and 0244-337251