True to its unwavering determination to protect and promote public safety, the Central Regional Office of the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) has extended its public education to cover homes in the Upper Denkyira West District.

The move formed part of the FDA's stepped-up surveillance to reach every corner in the Region to check the illegal activities of some food and drug vendors and peddlers who were bent on making huge profits at the expense of the quality of health of the populace.

Mr John Odai-Tettey, the Acting Regional Head of the Authority who led a team to the area, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview that the public must strictly adhere to all food and drugs safety precautions to safeguard their health.

He particularly advised consumers of pre-packaged and frozen foods, to watch out for expired products on the market before, during and after the Christmas peak sales.

As part of the visit, the FDA team took turns to educate the people through the various information service centres and cautioned consumers to be wary of illegal activities by checking every product they purchased to find its expiry date and FDA endorsement.

The FDA also charged the general public to refrain from patronizing unregistered herbal concoctions, buying medicines from unapproved places like information centres, lorry stations and on vehicles and using dented, bloated and rusted cans and fake or expired products.

The team alerted consumers to make sure that the products they purchased were labelled in English, with manufacturers’ names embossed on them.

In addition to that, they also used video documentaries to educate and advised the people from various communities on the dire consequences of using unregistered and unwholesome food or drug substances.

The team assured that the FDA will intensify its mass sensitisation programmes and markets surveillance to significantly reduce the menace of unscrupulous persons selling unregistered, unwholesome and unregulated food, drugs, cosmetic, medical devices and household chemicals substances throughout the Region.

It offered the citizenry and groups the opportunity to ask questions that agitated their minds to enable them understand the work of the FDA to protect food and drugs safety across the country.

Besides that the Authority trained some sachet water producers in the area on good manufacturing practices (GMP) among other best practices to ensure cleanliness in water production at all times.

Nonetheless, the team also moved quickly to seize some unregistered herbal medicines and food supplements that were being sold to the public at Diaso.

The Acting Regional Head confirmed that the FDA could not guarantee the safety, quality and efficacy of unregistered substances when consumed.