Ho, Nov 6, GNA - The Food and Drugs Board (FDB) has expressed concerned about the low of consumer consciousness among Ghanaians. It said a high level of consumer awareness among Ghanaians leading to the people rejecting bad products would ease pressure on the FDB. The FDB pointed out that this would also ensure that manufacturers and distributors marketed quality products and made sure that their quality control mechanisms worked.

This is stated in an Editorial in the "Safety Herald" the Board's house magazine for the last quarter of the year released recently. It said if the manufacturers adhered to "good manufacturing practices at their premises it would reduces the risk of producing unwholesome products, adding that, the distributor should also ensure good warehouse practices including "pest control, ventilation and lighting, stock control systems and other hygienic practices". In an article headed "The Food and Drugs Board So Far," the Board recognized the "influx through smuggling of substandard products onto the Ghanaian market" as a major problem it was battling against. It expressed the hope that the "establishment of offices at the ports and borders, effective collaboration with Customs Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) and related institutions coupled with intensification of the Board's post market surveillance activities shall go a long way to curb this evolving menace".