The Food and Drugs Board has instituted a training programme for water sachet companies to help them improve upon the production procedures and quality of their products.

As at June this year, 623 water sachet companies got certification from the Ghana Standards Board at which time the Food and Drugs Board (FDB) took over the regulation of foods in the country, Dr Kofi Konadu Apraku, Minister of Trade and Industry, told Parliament in response to a question posed by Mrs Cecilia Gyan Amoah; NPP-Asutifi South on measures being put in place to ensure that water sold in sachets was safe.

The Minister said the companies were taken through proper handling and packaging of water, criteria for potable water, labelling of packaged water and food, diseases associated with water and water filter systems and their handling.

Dr Apraku said so far, a batch of 100 producers had been trained and retrained in Accra and 92 had been identified and trained in the Ashanti Region. The training was ongoing and training sessions had been planned for other regions.

He said the GSB's concern stemmed from the fact that whereas the raw material usually from the Ghana Water Company's pipelines was perfectly safe for human consumption, the methods of handling and packaging could easily introduce contamination.

Dr Apraku said GSB took over the certification of packaged water (bagged and bottled) because the number of manufacturers increased and their activities were carried out in all manner of obscure places such as in kiosks, shops and garages and in some living quarters.

He said particular attention was paid to the labelling requirements of date marking and lots identification. The declaration of expiry or "best before dates" were considered very vital as the packaged water had a limited shelf-life and often developed particles and growth while still on the markets.

Dr Apraku said the declaration of a "best before date" helped the vendor to do away with "old" products, which were likely to cause consumer scare and complaints while the batch codes helped in identifying batches of production and become useful when a recall became necessary.

Dr Kwabena Adjei, NDC-Biakoye asked the Minister what the ministry was doing with the number of companies escalating beyond control. Dr Apraku said since the demand for sachet water increased an effective monitoring mechanism was evolved to control the activities of the producers.