Spanish supermarket chain Citydia in Ghana was shut down temporarily after authorities found a series of foreign labelled products in the retailer’s shelves. The products, mostly labelled in Chinese, Spanish and Portuguese, mostly included groceries like cooking oil, pasta and canned goods.

The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) in Ghana has ordered Spanish supermarket chain Citydia to close all of its stores in the country following an inspection that found several products exclusively labelled in Chinese, Spanish and Portuguese. This is in opposition with Ghanaian law that requires all products to have labels in English.

Citydia Ghana – foreign labelled products. Source: graphic.com.gh

Citydia has reacted to the order and started taking all of the products without English labels from shelves and, in some branches in Accra, employees have been seen relabelling the products. Some stores have already reopened and company officials believe the withdrawal and relabelling of all relevant products will be carried out within the next two weeks.

The FDA, along with other state authorities, is keeping tight control on the enforcement of laws and regulations in the retail sector in Ghana. Recently, the Revenue Authority took a series of products that were not complying with the new and much opposed tax stamp from retail shops around the country.

According to the Trendtype Retail Database Tracker, Citydia has a network of 8 outlets in Ghana. The chain is also present, in partnership with several retailers, in Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea and Nigeria, where it has had a more difficult path than it first expected.