Expired Goods Dealers In Court, April 28, 2011, pg 3

Two members of a syndicate suspected of altering the expiry dates on food items before supplying them to hawkers on the streets of Accra have been arraigned before an Accra circuit court.


Diana Abbey, 37, and Kwame Owusu, aka Gozzy, 35, each pleaded not guilty and were released on a GH¢40,000 bail with two sureties each. 

Earlier, the Food and Drugs Board (FDB), in a post-market surveillance operation with the Monitoring Unit of the Ghana Police Service, had arrested the accused persons when they were labelling food products.

The syndicate, which operates in a warehouse at Tudu in Accra, deals in food products, including baby foods, tomato ketch-up, beverages, biscuits, cornflakes and yoghurt. Majority of the products found in their warehouse which expired in July last year had their expiry dates extended to July 2011.

Among the products were Heinz and Ideal tomato ketch-up, Countre Dairy (Full cream milk), Elle and Vire Dairy baby food, Don Simon, best in orange/mango fruit juices, Kellog cornflakes and frosted wheat, Legend Premium lager beer, Cheers Apple flavoured carbonated drink, Yag Go yoghurt, Kellogg Coco pops and Bran Flakes, Safa guava nectar, Twist fruit nectar (banana, mango, pineapple), sausages, apples and many others which are sold on the streets.

Following a tip-off by an informant, the FDB launched an undercover investigation into what could put the health of many patrons of such foods in jeopardy and discovered the persons behind it, their location and modus operandi.

 Diana, the mastermind behind the illegal business, does her supply rounds usually on Thursdays using a VW minibus, with registration GT 6591 N, while Owusu works behind the scene to change the expiry dates using a dissolver or nail polish remover to change the original date and then use indelible ink to write the new date.

After the alteration, the products are moved to a location in the central business district of Accra where they are supplied in bulk to hawkers.

Having satisfied itself with facts on the operation of the syndicate, the FDB, with the Ghana Police Service, on Thursday, April 21, 2011 swooped on the hideout of the illegal business and caught Owusu busily at work.

He was arrested and all the goods confiscated and sent to the FDB.

At the time of the arrest, some of Diana’s customers had started trooping in for their day’s consignments.

Diana, who was not at post at the time of the swoop, was lured to the scene by the FDB officials under the pretext of settling the matter before the arrival of senior officials of the board.

Owusu, who was near to tears, confessed his involvement, saying he was driven into the act because of financial difficulties.

“Life became unbearable, yet I needed to survive with my dependants,” he stated and pleaded for leniency.

Diana, who later got to the scene, was also arrested and, together with Kwame, sent to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Police Headquarters in Accra for further investigations.

Diana, during interrogations, admitted buying the goods from supermarkets in Accra but fell short of identifying those supermarkets.

In a statement issued after the arrest, the FDB said “the consumption of expired food products poses a serious public health risk, since their safety cannot be guaranteed. Such expired products could cause illnesses and diseases from microbiological and chemical poisoning which may lead to chronic conditions and possibly death”.

It noted that the distribution, display and sale of unwholesome food products with altered expiry dates contravened sections 1 (b) and 3 of the Food and Drugs Law (PNDC Law 3045B), which state: “Any person who sells or offers for sale any food that is unwholesome or unfit for human consumption commits an offence.”