The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA), according to a story carried by the Daily Graphic yesterday, has suspended the operations of ‘Anointed Family Water’, a registered sachet water brand, with registration number FDA/WT22G-595 produced at New Bortianor.
The state-owned newspaper quoted the FDA as describing the sachet water brand as “a risk to public health and safety”, and that the company was operating under unhygienic conditions. Quoting a statement signed and issued by the Chief Executive Officer of the FDA, Dr. Delese Mimi Darko, it explained that the decision to suspend the operations of the company followed a recent inspection of its facility by officials of the Authority.
“During the inspection, the FDA team also found several pieces of Rena Aqua sachet water, an unregistered brand, on the premises, which were seized,” the statement added. “The public is hereby advised to refrain from consuming Anointed Family Water and the unregistered Rena Aqua brand,” the FDA was quoted as saying.
The Authority also instructed retailers and distributors to remove all stocks of Anointed Family Water as well as Rena Aqua in the trade until further notice.
“The FDA remains committed to its mission of safeguarding public health, by ensuring strict adherence to regulations and standards in the food and beverage industry,” the Authority assured the nation.
If Ghana is to move forward as a country, its constitutionally created agencies must be seen to be working.
The Chronicle is, therefore, happy that the FDA officials are not sitting in their cosy offices, but moving to various parts of the country to do jobs assigned them by the Constitution. Because of the desire to eke a living, people who have no business ideas have all of a sudden become business executives and churning out products that are dangerous to consumers.
One of such industries is sachet water production. The creation of jobs should ideally be welcome news, but the way and manner some of the sachet water producers go about their work leave much to desire. The environment, as noted in the latest FDA report, is simply filthy.
This has gone to confirm a survey report we carried in August last year, that some of the sachet water products were contaminated with faecal matter. Unfortunately, consumers cannot go round inspecting the working environments of sachet water producers before patronising their products. The onus, therefore, rests on the FDA to conduct such inspections on their behalf, which they are doing.
But whilst congratulating the FDA for the good work they are doing, it does not mean they should recoil into their shell as if they have finished the job. Some of the water producers will still be out there producing water an unhygienic environments, and it will take regular inspections as they are doing now to expose them.
Sachet water, as we all know, is patronised by millions of Ghanaians, especially those living in the urban areas. The health implications will, therefore, be dire if some of the producers do not keep their environment clean.
Also, The Chronicle does not support the idea of only naming and shaming those operating in filthy environments. They must as well be prosecuted to serve as a deterrent to others, since we are talking about public health and safety here. One’s desire to maximise profits should not come at the expense of the public.
