The Ghana Standards Authority (GSA), has shut down four Chinese‑owned mattress manufacturing companies in Afienya, Greater Accra Region, for allegedly producing mattresses from substandard materials.

The companies affected are Yin Yuan Jia Limited, Mooda Limited, Asano Services and Hue Sheng Company.

Speaking to the media during the operation, the GSA’s Greater Accra Regional Manager, Clement Kubati, said the products are harmful to human health and the environment and that existing stock will be destroyed.

"When the water is leaking, you don't mop the floor, you shut down the pipe, we are trying to shut down the pipe. This place is going to remain closed.

"We are going to engage with EPA and other authorities to make sure that these products are destroyed once and for all.

These products are very harmful to the environment and to human," he stated.

Mr Kubati said the same factories were shut down in October and were expected to allow a technical team to develop standard products.

He noted that standards development takes a minimum of six months to one year, but the factories refused to comply and reportedly broke padlocks after GSA officials left.

He added that market surveillance provided intelligence indicating the substandard products were still being sold, which allowed officials to trace them back to the main manufacturers and close the factories.

Mr Kubati urged the public and media to provide information to help identify other substandard products in the market as the GSA steps up enforcement.

"The country is on reset, GSA is also on reset, we are resetting, we are refocusing, we are recalibrating, and GSA is going to right those days of GSA being dominant is over, we are poised for action.

"The reset agenda is not only for GSA, it should go to everybody and we are pleading with you the media and citizens to volunteer with information, GSA alone can not do the work there is so much substandard products," he said.