Editorial of the Daily Searchlight of Friday, August 27, 2022
The Importers and Exporters Association of Ghana has expressed concern to the influx of unwholesome foreign wheat flour into the markets and other trading space across the country.
According to the Association, most of the imported wheat flours are smuggled through unapproved routes into the country from neighboring countries as custom officials are not able to exact taxes, fees, levies and charges on them.
The Association have further stated that the wheat do not have the approval of the Food Drugs Authority as well as Ghana Standards Authority’s seal is not found on them and are contrary to the laws governing the importation of consumable food items into the country.
The Executive Secretary of the Importers and Exporters Association, Mr. Samson Asaki Awingobit told the Daily Searchlight that failure of the regulatory institutions mandated to clamp down on these clandestine and nefarious activities brings to bear a threat to public health on consumers.
“Information reaching the Association indicates that majority of these wheat flours have foreign languages inscribed on the bag and jute sacks which makes it difficult people to identify their date of expiration”, he said, adding that some of the wheat flours have found their way into the markets, schools, food joints, among others across the country.
The Daily Searchlight is of the opinion that it is necessary that appropriate intelligence and monitoring is done to stall and stem the invasion of these substandard products into the Ghanaian jurisdiction.
We believe that the appropriate authorities can put in place all necessary measures to forestall the flooding of our markets and consuming public by products that are not properly labelled and sourced.
We believe that the health and safety of the consuming public should be paramount.
We hope that the authorities would contact the whistle-blowers for all relevant information leading to the arrest and prosecution of the people behind this imported wheat.
(This article was first published in the column EDITORIAL of the Daily Searchlight of Friday, August 27, 2022. The Daily Searchlight appears on the newsstands of Ghana every working day and PDF versions are available for sale online twenty-four hours a day all day throughout the world on www.ghananewsstand.com).
