FDA CONDUCTS PRODUCT QUALITY MONITORING ON HAND SANITIZERS

The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) as part of its mandate to ensure public health and safety has embarked on a nationwide Product Quality monitoring exercise in selected facilities and markets on the safety and quality of Hand sanitizers on the Ghanaian market. The exercise was carried out between 24th June 2020 to 28th August 2020 to ascertain the compliance of hand sanitizers on the market.

The objective of this monitoring exercise by the Authority was to verify the compliance of the hand sanitizers sold on the market with the Ghana Standard GS 1303 (Specification for Alcohol based hand sanitizers).

The staff deployed from the MDCHC Market Surveillance Department were divided into teams and tasked to visit markets, shopping malls and various neighborhoods to randomly take samples of hand sanitizers. These samples of hand sanitizers were submitted to the FDA Quality Control Laboratory Services for analysis as per the Ghana Standard GS1303.

The findings from the FDA Quality Control Laboratory Services revealed that out of the total of ninety-seven (97) samples of hand sanitizers obtained from the nationwide exercise, eighty-nine (89) samples passed the standards specification of the Ghana Standard GS 1303, constituting 91.75% of the total samples. One was found not to have been registered and approved by the FDA. Eight samples did not comply with the standard specifications of GS 1303 constituting 8.25% of products sampled hence not safe for use.

The Department has followed up with the manufacturers of the samples that failed the laboratory analysis. The manufacturing firms which were asked to recall, reformulate and re-submit their samples to the FDA Quality Control Laboratory Services have adhered to the directive.

The general public is therefore advised to collaborate with the FDA by reporting on any suspicious FDA regulated product which may not be safe for use. Manufacturers are further urged to desist from producing substandard products that do not comply with the required standards.

It should be noted that the FDA is the national regulatory body responsible for the regulation of the manufacturing, importation, exportation, distribution, sale and advertisement of food, drugs, cosmetics, medical devices and household chemical substances as stated in the Public Health Act, 2012 (ACT 851).The FDA has been implementing various approaches to address challenges in compliance of products as obligated under the Public Health Act.