File photo: Bottle cocks of Mirinda Fruity and Mirinda PineappleIt has emerged that SBC Beverages Ghana Limited, the sole franchisee and bottler of the Pepsi cola range of products in Ghana, used expired concentrate to manufacture two of its products released onto the market. Document sighted by editors.3news.com revealed that thousands of crates of RGB Mirinda Pineapple and RGB Mirinda Fruity which were manufactured from November 9, 2018 to August 5 this year, were produced with expired concentrate. A total of 183,136 crates of the two products were said to have been produced from the expired concentrate. Though the FDA directed the company to “recall” the products from the market, it did not indicate whether the company,SBC Beverages Ghana Limited, has or will be sanctioned. Per the document from the Food and Drugs Authority dated September 3, SBC Beverages Ghana Limited has recalled “2,056 crates of RGB Mirinda Fruity and Pineapple out of 183,136 crates”. As to whether there is proof to that, the document, which is an internal memo, did not say. Even if over 2,000 of the products have been recalled as claim, there could be over 181,000 crates of the non-alcoholic beverage being sold to unsuspecting consumers as the FDA, the statutory regulator, has not yet issued any health alert to warn the public. The affected products Also, SBC Beverages Ghana Limited has not issued any statement warning the public against consumption of the two products they manufactured with expired concentrate and or asking those who have stock to return them. It is unclear whether some persons have consumed some of the affected products and what the health implications will be for such consumers. Meanwhile, the Food Inspection Division of the FDA has asked the Food Market Surveillance Department to “ascertain the company’s claim that there is none of the above mentioned batches in trade”. When contacted, head of Communications at FDA, James Lartey, said he was “not privy” to the issue and requested for a copy of the document for investigation to be able to respond appropriately. By editors.3news.com|Ghana
