The Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) has cautioned the general public to be extra vigilant as they shop before and during the Christmas festivities.
It said the caution was neccessary as some importers would try to take undue advantage of the occasion to flood the market with cheap, substandard and fake products to the detriment of ignorant consumers.
The GSA further cautioned the public to avoid purchasing poorly stored consumable products as well as products that had been over exposed to the sun as the health implicatons of such products on the consumer could be deadly.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic, the Public Relations Manager of the GSA, Mr Kofi Amponsah-Bediako noted that some importers took advantage of some Ghanaians’ patronage of cheap goods and products, to import these substandard goods into the market for personal gain.
He expressed worry that “such products come in because people know that there is market for them.”
He said though the Authority had put in place strategies to stop the introducton of such products onto the market and to eliminate those that were already in the market to ensure public safety, the greater responsibility lay with consumers as they reserved the choice and power to decide on what to patronise.
Mr Amponsah-Bediako ndicated, that, it was important that people gave importance to the quality of products over pricing consideratons as cheap products mostly had questionable quality issues.
“Strategies by the Authority to eliminate substandard goods this festive occasion includes; sensitisaton of the offcers of the authority at the ports and other official entry points to strengthen their checks on imported goods.”
“The Market Surveillance Unit of the authority had also intensified its activites despite its human resource constraints,”he added.
Other measures were the sensitisaton of consumers and market women of fake and substandard products since these products can also be smuggled into the local market through unofficial routes.
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