The company on September 29, 2015 was found by customs officials as
its employees were
in the act of repackaging some quantities of margarine into new cartons with extended expiry dates. The expiry date printed on the product by the manufacturers had passed.
in the act of repackaging some quantities of margarine into new cartons with extended expiry dates. The expiry date printed on the product by the manufacturers had passed.
According to the information on the packages, the product was
manufactured on September 24, 2014 and to expire on September 24, 2015.
Following the Customs action, and after sealing off Olam Ghana’s
warehouse, they called in the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA), which
subsequently shut the warehouse with its own locks.
When ghanabusinessnews.com inquired from the FDA, officials at the
regulatory institution said Olam Ghana after the June 3 floods was
struggling to sell and distribute the margarine which was due to expire
in a few months time. Olam, therefore sought the FDA’s approval to
extend the expiry dates and shelf life of the product.
The FDA however declined.
Speaking on the matter to ghanabusinessnews.com in the presence of
two FDA officials, Deputy Chief Executive of the FDA – Food Inspectorate
Division, Mrs Isabella Mansa Agra, explained that although food
products are not absolutely inedible and unsafe for consumption after
the expiry date, (or absolutely safe prior to the expiry date), the
determination of the expiry date of any food product, is the sole
preserve of the manufacturer.
But according to a spokesperson of Olam Ghana, the company had the
assurance of the margarine’s manufacturer that it could still be used
for a certain period after the expiry date and it was on such firsthand
assurance that Olam had sought to extend the margarine’s shelf life.
According to Mrs. Agra, the FDA determined that the margarine was
wholesome and fit for consumption when it examined the lab report
produced by the destination inspection company SGS and validated it. But
the FDA instead of extending the shelf life of the margarine as
requested by Olam, proposed in June to supervise the distribution of the
product, exclusively to end-user bakeries that would use the margarine
immediately, to avoid any danger to the public through retail.
“You must send it to an end user. You cannot put it on the marke
for resale. You cannot give it to any bakery that is even going to
resell,” Mrs Agra said on some rules guiding the supervised distribution
of such products.
The FDA told ghanabusinessnews.com, that it asked Olam Ghana to
provide it with a list of bakeries that it would supervise the
controlled distribution to.
The FDA said while it was waiting for the list and details of Olam
Ghana’s intended customers, so the controlled distribution could be
done, customs officials in Tema on September 29, drew the FDA’s
attention to the repackaging of the margarine at the company’s warehouse
in the Tema Free Zone enclave.
Meanwhile, the Olam Ghana spokesperson tells ghanabusinessnews.com
that the company is doing the controlled distribution of the margarine
with the FDA, but Mrs. Agra denied that claim, saying there is no FDA
official involved in any controlled distribution of the products with
Olam Ghana, indicating, “We have the keys here,” she said.
However, the Olam Group prides itself in what it calls “The Olam
Sustainability Standard” – a set of policies and codes covering seven
focus areas, of which food safety is part.
“Ensuring our ingredients and products are delivered to customers
without contamination or adulteration is the bedrock of our quality and
compliance programmes,” the company says on its website.
By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi & Emmanuel Odonkor
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