THE Food and Drugs Board (FDB) has seized a large quantity of unwholesome flour smuggled into the country and being sold in the Sekondi/Takoradi metropolis and other parts of the Western Region.
The cheap pro80ducts, according to the FDB, were not fortified with iron, Vitamin B1, B2, B6, B12, Folic Acid and Zinc, thereby making them dangerous to consumers.
Markets in the twin-city, the board said, had been flooded with the smuggled flour from neighbouring Cote d’Ivoire and Egypt.
About 400 bags of the unfortified product from Egypt have been impounded by the FDB, which claims that its zonal office was waiting for a directive to destroy the flour.
The impounding of the substandard flour followed a petition sent to the FDB by local flour manufacturers who had tested and realised that the smuggled product was not fortified and could be dangerous to consumers.
According to the Zonal Officer of the FDB in charge of the Western and Central regions, Agampim Solomon, the office had retrieved many bags of the unwholesome product smuggled from Cote d’Ivoire.
He said it was important to note that fortification was very important to the health of the consuming public, explaining that some bakers had actually bought the cheap and unfortified product and mixed it with wholesome flour from local manufacturers.
“It is important for those smuggling to note that the most affected when wheat flour is not fortified are children between two and five. Latest figures indicate that 72 per cent of children suffered from vitamin A deficiency due to the consumption of unfortified products,” he said.
The officer used the opportunity to appeal to bakers and other people who used flour to consider the health implications of using unfortified products in their work.
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