Food and Drugs Authority (FDA)'s Acting Director of Legal and Corporate Affairs says the closure of the Marwako's East Legon branch was to prevent an escalation of reported cases of food poisoning.

Joseph Yaw-Bernie Bennie said even though the Authority has not yet established the cause of the poisoning, the immediate shut down of the eatery is part of its routine procedure when such cases are reported.

He told Emefa Apawu on Joy FM's Midday News on Thursday that the closure is a first step ahead of investigations into the widespread allegations on social media.

"You want to stem the tide; you don't want to continue to let it spread further than you know. So the first prudent step is to close down the place and get your investigations ongoing.

"It was shut down so that we keep people off the premises and allow us to continue with the investigations," he said.

Touching on the total number of customers who have been affected, Mr Bennie said the FDA is yet to access that figure.

He stated that the FDA only moved to close the eatery on the back of the widespread claims on social media.

Mr Bennie , however, added that a team has deployed his outfit to dig into the matter and extract the relevant facts accordingly.

He further disclosed that the FDA has deployed its men to another branch of the restaurant, which he would not want to disclose.

He said after the team's work, the Authority will be able to ascertain the actual cause of the alleged food poisoning, the total number of casualties and other relevant aspects of the havoc.

He noted that even though the FDA cannot disclose when the eatery will be ordered to resume operations, it will clear the restaurant to start operations at the end of its investigations.

Regarding the duration of the investigations, he was unable to give a specific timeline.

Meanwhile, the Public Relations Officer of the company, Mohammed Amin Lamptey, says they have also begun internal investigations into the complaints by customers.

He revealed that the reports came to him as a surprise.

Mr Amin Lamptey added that the company has taken responsibility to remedy the situation, which only occurred at the company's East Legon branch.

The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) closed down the East Legon branch of Marwako restaurant following widespread reports of food poisoning on social media.

In a tweet on Thursday, the FDA stated that the move to close down the restaurant enables the Authority to conduct investigations into customers’ complaints.

“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.