The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) in the Ashanti Region has shut down an unlicensed production facility in Senfi Bekwai linked to Unni Associates Company Limited, producers of Arcan Bitters, after the company allegedly resumed manufacturing despite an earlier closure order.
According to the FDA, the company relocated its operations and continued producing Arcan Bitters without the Authority’s knowledge.
The initial shutdown followed laboratory tests that detected Sildenafil Citrate, a prescription medicine used to treat erectile dysfunction and pulmonary arterial hypertension, in the alcoholic beverage. The FDA subsequently ordered a recall of the product from the Ghanaian market.
Ashanti Regional Head of the FDA, Dr Ashraf Haruna, said the presence of the substance in a product registered as an alcoholic beverage raised serious health and safety concerns.
He explained that Arcan Bitters, which contains 35 per cent alcohol, was not authorised to contain medicinal substances.
Sildenafil Citrate belongs to a class of medicines known as Phosphodiesterase Type 5 inhibitors. Its undeclared presence in an alcoholic drink could expose consumers to potentially harmful effects.
During the latest operation, FDA officers locked up the Senfi facility and posted caution notices at its entrances. They also secured 23 barrels of alcoholic content intended for production, about 1,500 boxes of the beverage, more than 5,000 empty bottles and other manufacturing materials.
Dr Haruna said the Authority was working with the police to facilitate the arrest of the factory owner.
The FDA has urged the public to avoid buying or consuming Arcan Bitters and called on retailers and distributors to cooperate with efforts to remove the product from circulation.
