Kasapreko receives food safety certification

Beverage producer, Kasapreko Company Limited (KCL), has been presented with a food safety management system certification by the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) at its premises in Accra.

The company, therefore, joins the list of few companies in Ghana which have been certified under the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) programme, which also saw some staff of the company being trained by the FDA to enable them do periodic self-auditing of the system which is being harmonised with the Good Management Practices (GMP).

Certification

The HACCP enables hazards to be identified and controlled before they become threats to the safety of food and consumer health.

The system also ensures a preventive approach that identifies and evaluates the biological, chemical and physical hazards in the production process.

At a ceremony to present the certificate to Kasapreko, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the FDA, Mrs Delese Mimi Darko, said the certification of the company would ensure that consumers of the company’s beverage and water products were protected against food-borne diseases.

HACCP, Mrs Darko stated, served as a due diligence defence in food manufacturing as it also provided a framework to prevent wastage, thereby ensuring cost effectiveness of companies.

She urged food manufacturing companies in the country to endeavour to put in place systems that would identify and control hazards in the food production chain, adding that the pursuit of food safety assurance was key to the protection of public health and safety, as food safety has a huge impact on the wellbeing of consumers.

“Food safety assurance is essential to the success of food business globally and has become a pre-condition for food trade internationally although we in Ghana are yet to make the hazard control limit systems a requirement for food registration,” Mrs Darko said.

The Head of the Good Industrial Support Services Department at FDA, Mr Kofi Essel, warned that the certification which was renewable every three years could be revoked by the authority if the company failed to implement the system efficiently.

He said the authority would conduct periodic audits over the next three years to ensure that the company remained compliant.

Kasapreko

The General Manager in charge of Finance at Kasapreko, Mr Emmanuel Teiko, announced that the company had begun processes to convert its wholesale distribution point in Kumasi to become a full production unit.

He said that the increasing demand for the company’s soft drink range of product particularly in the northern sector of the country necessitated the need to increase the company’s production capacity.

Installation works on the new factory, Mr Teiko said, would begin in the second quarter of 2019, adding, “we see this certification as having come at the opportune time to help facilitate a better understanding of food safety issues within the organisation.”
 
Writer’s email: delarussel@gmail.com