Voltic Ghana Limited, a leading mineral water bottling and distribution company, says its voluntary adoption of the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points, or HACCP system has a great potential to increase its local market share.

HACCP is a systematic preventive approach to food and pharmaceutical safety. It identifies physical, allergenic, chemical and biological hazards in production processes that can cause the finished product to be unsafe, and designs measurements to reduce these risks to a safe level.

Voltic Ghana is currently the only packaged water company in the country to have been issued with the HACCP Certificate by the Food and Drugs Board (FDB), which involves the installation and audit of the HACCP system.

The HACCP system allows access of packaged products from the company on the international market and builds product safety, which according to Voltic officials translates into confidence of patrons and producers alike in the product.

“A good water treatment system is the one that considers and incorporates adequate controls to address the shortfalls of the source of water quality to meet the unique needs of consumers”, said Raymond Mensah Gbetivi, Quality Assurance Manager.

The assurance comes barely four months after Voltic experienced product quality challenges at its Nyame Ani Plant in Kumasi.

About 25,000 cartons of bottled water suspected to have been contaminated during the period were withdrawn and destroyed following consumer complains.

“From 11th of May to date, there are no products on the market with such particles… that was the first time ever this thing has happened here at Nyame Ani and since then we’ve never had any issue again”, Mr. Gbetivi told the media on a guided tour of the plant to acquire first-hand knowledge of the production processes.

According to him, state agencies responsible for public health and product standards have been engaged to audit systems at the plant.

“We also sent samples to the Water Research Institute to make sure that whatever is in the water hasn’t got any health implication for the general public and the result came out clear that there is no bacterial in the water, the particles were not chemicals; they were just residue of iron deposits after oxidizing events with the ozone”, stated the Quality Assurance Manager.

Voltic, a subsidiary of SABMiller plc, has been operating in Ghana for the past 17 years.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh