The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA), has given the assurance that the brands of tomato mix and tomato paste sold on the Ghanaian market meet all its safety standards and is safe for consumption.
The FDA’s assurance follows the release of excerpts of a 2017 documentary showing the production of a tomato paste in a Chinese factory and suggesting that the product did not meet safety standards.
Excerpts from the documentary, which has gone viral on social media indicates that the final destinations of the Chinese produced tomato paste and mix were the Middle East and Africa; and for that matter Ghana.
The documentary mentioned in particular one “Gina Tomato Paste” which bears semblance with the Gino Tomato Mix sold in Ghana.
A statement issued by the FDA, however assures the public that the Gino Tomato Mix was produced locally and is safe for consumption.
It said Gino officially ceased the importation of tomato paste into the Ghanaian market and has since November 2018 only imported bulk tomato concentrate for the production of ‘Gino Tomato Mix’ locally.
It added that there were two variations of tomato concentrate products, Tomato Paste and Tomato Mix on the Ghanaian market.
It said per the Ghanaian Standards, tomato paste is tomato concentrate to which salt and other suitable seasoning ingredients may be added while, tomato mix per the Ghana Standards is tomato concentrate and/or tomato powder (granules) to which water, salt, starch, dietary fibre and other optional ingredients mentioned in Clause 5.1.2 are added.