FDB RECEIVES MINI LABORATORY (PAGE 29, NOV 25, 2010)

THE Food and Drugs Board (FDB) has received a mini laboratory from the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), Germany, to help analyse food products for the presence of vitamins and minerals to ensure good health for Ghanaians .
The pocket size equipment which has been validated for food analysis will check for fortified food items within seven minutes instead of the five hours as existed previously to reduce deficiencies and malnutrition by 30 per cent in the country.
The equipment, known as 'i Check Chromo' and its accessories cost 8,520 Euros and it is the first to be produced as a sample for Ghana.It is yet to be produced on commercial basis .
Introducing the equipment to stakeholders in Tema, the Project Manager, Mr Richard Odum Nyumuah, said the FDB had introduced a logo to be pasted on fortified products to assure consumers of the genuineness of the product .
He said producers and importers who would display for sale or import products without complying with the laid down regulations would be sanctioned and the products re-exported to its source of importation.
Mr Nyumuah stated that the Ministry of Health had noted that most imported and locally produced cooking oils lacked vitamin A after refining.
This, he said, led to increase in deficiencies which made people to rely on supplementation.
Mr Nyumuah said wheat flour was one of the food items that needed to be fortified with minerals, zinc, iron, vitamins A and B and folic acid .
He said GAIN in line with the project gave support of $1.8 million to flour producing companies in the country to institute measures to fortify their products .
Mr Nyumuah noted that the FDB would soon promote the logo to educate the public on the need to look out for the fortified logo .
The Head of Import and Export Unit of FDB, Mr Emmanuel Kwarteng, said the introduction of the equipment was a milestone in the operations of the FDB in the ports and at the border crossings.
He was of the view that the operations with the food analysing equipment would ensure safe and efficacious medicines and food products on the market to assure consumers of good health .
Mr Kwarteng commended the Customs Division of the National Revenue Authority, members of the Customs Clearing Agencies and the National Security for their vigilance which had exposed some dubious deals at the ports.
He cautioned the public against the use of food and drugs which had not been approved by the board and appealed to the public to inform it of any shady deals. Mr Kwarteng said herbal preparations were not excluded and called for support to help control the inflow of sub -standard products into the country.
The Head of Food Laboratory Unit of the FDB, Mr Cheetham Mingle, demonstrated how the equipment works.