The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) has urged manufacturers of consumable products, specifically producers of sachet and bottled drinking water, to ensure good manufacturing practices in their line of production.

It said drinking water was essential to human life but it could also be a source of fatal ailments when contaminated or not produced in accordance with the standards and specifications by the FDA.

Observations the FDA had made indicated that while some producers ignorantly failed to meet the regulatory requirements, others were driven by their economic gains with a larger section fraudulently and consciously refusing to comply with the requirements.

Mr John Odai Tettey, the Central Regional Manager of the FDA, who gave the advice, urged the producers to build product quality and safety into the manufacturing processes involved, basically from raw materials acquisition through to the release of the finished product.

"This is made possible through the application of good manufacturing practices, which is the documented evidence that gives a high degree of assurance that a product would be manufactured consistently in accordance with its specifications."

He said this at a Good Management Practices training the FDA organised for 204 drinking water manufacturers, representing 61 water producing firms in the Central Region on Wednesday.

Mrs Shirley Davis Andoh, a Senior Regulatory Officer, FDA, encouraged participants to, on a timely basis, document their daily activities for better referencing, easy identification of products and improved consistency.
That would also facilitate the day to day production activities and, most importantly, gain suppliers quality assurance as documentation was an act of due diligence.

 She told the participants to keep up with process control systems (PCS) as engineering mechanisms to reach product objectives and outputs.
The PCS would assist them to keep their operations running with specified goals and set more precise limits to maximizing profit as well as put their safety first, she said.

Speaking on product labeling, Mrs Naa Korkoi Ewudzie, a Senior Regulatory Officer, said pre-packaged foods should not be labelled in a manner that would create a false, misleading or deceptive impression about a product, or which was likely to result in erroneous implications.
She called on participants and producers in general to do well to observe the requisite sanitary measures to prevent microorganisms from getting into contact with their products.

She advised that information like the name of product, batch identification, and storage must boldly be seen on their packaged products.