The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) says both the East Legon and the La branches of Marwako Fast Food did not have a food hygiene permit to operate.

The FDA said the East Legon branch where the suspected food poisoning occurred had its permit expired at the time of the alleged food poison.

Joseph Bennie, the Director for Legal and Corporate Affairs at the FDA, disclosed this to Accra-based 3FM on Friday.

“The La branch did not have a food hygiene permit to operate. They put in an application in the last two weeks, and we received the application as far back as last week”.

“The East Legon branch had a permit…but unfortunately for them, it had expired at the time of the incident. Therefore, I need to confirm the Abelemkpe branch had the permit, but the La branch did not have a Food hygiene permit,” he added.

Marwako, a fast-food eatery in Accra, has been trending on Twitter for the past three days after several Twitter users complained of being served contaminated food, resulting in food poisoning.

The complaints were triggered by one Edward Elohim, who posted about his illness after eating at Marwako last Saturday.

Subsequently, the FDA closed down the restaurant’s East Legon and Abelenkpe branches.

“The FDA has taken notice of complaints from the public about the suspected food poisoning at the East Legon Branch of Marwarko Restaurant.

“We have closed down the restaurant and, together with other relevant agencies, started investigations”, the tweet said.

Meanwhile, the management of Marwako Fast Food has said it has settled the medical bills of some of its customers who suffered from food poisoning after eating from one of its branches.

This was disclosed by the Public Relations Officer of the restaurant, Amin Lamptey.

He apologised to the public and assured that the Management will continue to ensure affected customers are treated for their ailments.

“We visited some of our customers at the hospital, and those who were discharged visited them at home. We assisted some of them with their hospital bills.

“The main thing started on Saturday and Sunday evening. We have accepted everything, and we have apologised to the victims.”