-Warns Against Unwholesome Food
By Hawa Bility
The Food Authority of Liberia (FAL) says it is intensifying market surveillance, routine inspections and laboratory testing to protect consumers from expired, counterfeit, adulterated and otherwise unsafe food products on the Liberian market.
Speaking Tuesday at the Ministry of Information regular press briefing in Monrovia, FAL Director General, Precellia Cherue, said the Authority is also strengthening inspections of food processing, storage and manufacturing facilities to ensure compliance with Liberia’s food safety laws.
Cherue said the Food Authority is the primary national regulatory and inspection body responsible for food and feed safety and quality matters in Liberia.
She explained that the Authority’s mandate covers the production, processing, importation, exportation, distribution and sale of food and feed products.
According to her, the Authority is responsible for registering and regulating food businesses, conducting food and feed inspections and surveillance, sampling and laboratory testing, controlling imported and exported food and feed, and ensuring proper food labeling and traceability.
“The Food Authority of Liberia is the primary national food safety regulatory and inspection unit,” Cherue said.
She disclosed that recent seizures and disposal of unwholesome tomatoes and energy drinks were part of the Authority’s ongoing risk-based regulatory actions aimed at protecting consumers.
Cherue said the Authority has intensified market surveillance in areas where unsafe products are found and is taking appropriate regulatory actions against products that are expired, improperly labeled, counterfeit or otherwise in violation of the law.
She noted that such actions include seizure, detention, sampling, investigation, recall and, where necessary, destruction or prosecution in accordance with due process.
The FAL Director General cautioned the public against assuming that the discovery of one unsafe product means all products within the same category are unsafe.
“We want the public to understand that a single product is not automatically evidence that every product of that category is unwholesome,” she said.
Cherue explained that the Authority conducts a verification process before taking enforcement action, including inspection, documentation, sampling, laboratory analysis where necessary, risk assessment and enforcement.
She urged consumers to avoid purchasing or consuming food products they suspect may be unsafe and called on businesses to comply with food safety regulations.
“Businesses should not sell products that are expired, adulterated, counterfeit, or otherwise non-compliant,” Cherue emphasized.
She also encouraged members of the public to report suspicious food products to the Food Authority for investigation and appropriate action.
Cherue acknowledged that the Food Authority is still relatively new and that many Liberians are yet to fully understand its mandate and regulatory processes.
“The Food Authority is quite new, so society does not know our mandate or does not understand the process,” she said.
She said the Authority is working with key government institutions, including the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Agriculture and Liberia National Standards Authority, to strengthen food safety compliance across the country.
“We all are working together to make sure that food safety is everyone’s business in Liberia,” Cherue added.
Cherue disclosed that the Food Authority is located on Capitol Bypass at the former Ministry of Health Maternity Center building, where the Phytosanitary Certificate section is currently located.
She urged members of the public with concerns about unwholesome, expired or contaminated food products to contact the Food Authority for intervention.
