By Godfred A. Polkuu
Bolgatanga, May 7, GNA – The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) in the Upper East Region, has assured residents that the sachet water in circulation within the Region is safe for consumption.
The Authority, through its Acting Regional Head, Mr Abel Ndego, noted that residents were skeptical and not too sure about the quality of sachet water in circulation in the Region, and therefore, allayed their fears about safety concerns.
“As an Authority, I would want to use this platform to assure the people of the Region that; on the whole, the sachet water in circulation is safe,” Mr Ndego said in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA), after a sensitization programme for sachet water producers across the Region.
He indicated that about 98 to 99 percent sachet water producers met at least the basic minimum requirement for production, “And so I can assure the public that FDA is doing everything possible to make sure that they remain in compliance,” he added.
Mr Ndego noted that sachet water production was key to the health delivery system of the Region and beyond and admonished the water producers to continue to ensure proper sanitation at their facilities.
He said “We have taken time to mention it in our discourse with them. Sanitation is critical in ensuring that you preclude or minimize the risk of contamination.
“If people are able to effectively ensure that they produce under sanitary conditions, then it just goes on to help protect and preserve the integrity and quality of the products that they churn out to the public,” he said.
Even though the FDA allayed the fears of residents, it, however, observed public deception in the quantity of sachet water supplied by some producers, saying “By law, we have strict labeling requirements, and everything that you indicate on your label, you must defend.
“By law, it is deception of a consumer to indicate that you are giving them 500millilitres (mls) of water, when in the real sense, you are giving them below or above the 500mls,” he said.
Mr Ndego emphasized that volume declaration was part of labeling requirements, and that “Once you indicate that the volume that you are delivering to me is 500mls, I trust it.”
He said it was important for sachet water producers to indicate the right quantity of water contained in the sachet, noting that people used sachet water to reconstitute medications, especially for children, and inaccurate volume of sachet water would affect the medication dosage.
“The strength of medications is also a function of the dilutions, and so if I believe that the water is 500mls and I am supposed to reconstitute a medication with 250mls, I will just pour half of the sachet water with the expectation that since is 500mls, I am delivering 250mls for my medication, only to realize that the sachet water really is 400mls.
“It means I have delivered 200mls instead of 250mls. So because of the volume, the strength of the medicine will be higher, and so more strength of the medication will be delivered to the child or whoever is taking the medication than the prescribed dose,” he explained.
Mr Ndego, therefore, called on sachet water producers to calibrate their machines to deliver the exact volume of water as indicated on the sachet.
Mr Anthony Baba Piameng, the Regional Chairman of the Sachet Water Producers Association, stressed the importance of the sensitization programme, and thanked management of the FDA for the programme, and called for more regular programmes to remind them of the need to produce under hygienic conditions.
GNA
FAA/KOA