Police nab 2 for altering expiry dates of products

Two persons have been arrested for allegedly altering the expiry dates on some canned food products and cosmetics and selling them to the public.

Danso Abbeam and Perpetual Owusua were arrested in their room in a house at Adam Nana, a suburb of Kasoa, while they were removing labels of some products and replacing them and in some cases, concealing the expiry dates by covering them up or scraping them off.

Confirming the incident, the Kasoa District Police Commander, Superintendent of Police, Mr Stephen Kofi Ahiatafu, said the two persons were arrested last Saturday, upon a tip-off from some concerned citizens.

On receiving the tip-off, he said, the command despatched some policemen who arrested Abbeam and Perpetual.

Products

The police found products such as corn flakes, evaporated milk, chewing gums and spices, as well as cosmetics, including body lotions.

The products were loaded into a truck and taken to the Kasoa District Police Station.

When the products were counted later at the Kasoa Police Station, they were made up of 95 boxes of Lele corn flakes, 115 boxes of Lorenz crunch chips, 40 boxes of Tom evaporated milk, 78 boxes of Apple bubble gums, 35 sachets of chicken spices and two boxes of Dr Baked Beans, all suspected to be expired products that had been relabelled.

Other products found by the police included 215 pieces of Vaseline body lotion, 135 pieces of cocoa paa body lotion,18 pieces of Neutro body lotion and 25 packets of black mosquito coils.

Mr Ahiatafu said it would only take critical observation to find out that the expiry dates on the products had been altered.

He noted that the act was contrary to section 113 of the Public Health Act 2012, Act 851 which was against false labelling or advertisement of food or drug.

It was also contrary to Section Five of the P.N.D.C.L 3058 and Food and Drugs Act, 1992.

The two suspects, Mr Ahiatafu said, had since been charged with deception of consumers while investigations continue.