The Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) has closed down 5A Homes, a Chinese-owned manufacturing company at Dawhenya in the Greater Accra Region, for allegedly producing substandard mattresses.
The action forms part of the Authority’s ongoing nationwide enforcement exercise aimed at removing inferior products from the Ghanaian market.
Speaking to the media after the operation on Tuesday, May 19, the Regional Manager of the Ghana Standards Authority, Clement Kubati, said the exercise is intended to identify, trace, and eliminate substandard products to protect consumers and reduce potential health and environmental risks.
According to him, the Authority will intensify its surveillance activities to ensure compliance with approved manufacturing standards.
“That’s why I’m saying we’re going to make sure that we will continue with our surveillance. The information that we picked before we came here, we’re going to continue. I mean, as you can see, the exercise that we did yesterday [May 18] has prompted this incident. We are going to make sure to reinforce it with our power locks and seal. Simple as that,” he stated.
Mr Kubati further disclosed that the mattresses found at the facility were recently manufactured using materials that allegedly failed to meet approved standards.
“These are mattresses that have been manufactured. It’s not a month or two. This is just recent manufacturing. These are substandard mattresses that are being manufactured with low-standard material. So we’re going to continue.
“We’ll try to see what we can do in the market at the retail site. But some of them have found their way into a retail market,” he added.
The latest shutdown follows a similar operation carried out by the GSA on Monday, May 18, at Afienya near Tema, where several mattress manufacturing companies were also closed for allegedly using substandard materials in production.
The affected companies included Yin Yuan Jia Limited, Mooda Limited, Hue Sheng Company, producers of Kalusini mattresses, and Asano Service.
According to the Authority, the companies were allegedly using polystyrene instead of the approved polyurethane material in the production of mattresses.
Polystyrene is commonly used as a protective packaging material for electronic appliances and household equipment such as refrigerators, air conditioners, microwaves, ovens, vacuum cleaners, and blenders.
