310 food establishments involv...

310 food establishments involved in illegal activities suspended

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#Gazeta_Plus | The Ethiopian Food and Drug Authority announced that 310 food establishments involved in illegal activities have been suspended.

The Ethiopian Food and Drug Authority has given a profile on the overall performance of the completed fiscal year.

The Director General of the Authority, Heran Gerba, stated at the same time; the institution has conducted intensive inspections on food, medicines, medical devices, cosmetics, tobacco and alcohol products in the 2017 fiscal year.

He said that it has been able to record encouraging results in the inspection work carried out in collaboration with the regions.

The Director General, who pointed out that the inspection work carried out to protect public health, especially in the food sector, has been able to detect various illegal activities during inspections, announced that various measures have been taken based on the findings.

Among the illegal activities, they explained, are the production of raw materials that have expired and the use of foreign materials, improper handling of production inputs, the presence of insect-eaten and spoiled inputs in production facilities, the production of products without complete labeling according to standards, the use of prohibited raw materials, and the use of unused raw materials as inputs in the product labeling.

The Director General announced that appropriate action has been taken against food manufacturers, importers and distributors who were found to be engaged in such and other illegal activities; “285 written warnings, 384 cancellations, 39 suspensions and 310 suspension measures have been taken,” he said.

The Director General stated that the Ethiopian Food and Drug Authority will continue to strengthen its control in cooperation with stakeholders to protect the health of the public; He also called on the community to continue to report any illegal activities to the institution and local security forces.