Nationwide inspections also exposed weak handwashing and temperature-record systems, but authorities have not disclosed how many cold stores were assessed or what happened to food exposed to temperature excursions.
LIBERIA — More than three-quarters of the cold stores examined during a nationwide inspection drive in Liberia recorded temperatures outside prescribed safe ranges, according to findings disclosed by the country’s National Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Commission.
Commission Chief Executive Officer George W.K. Yarngo said approximately 76% of the inspected cold stores were operating outside acceptable temperature ranges. Only 19% reportedly had handwashing facilities, while about 10% maintained adequate water and temperature records.
Yarngo presented the findings during a Ministry of Information press briefing on 1 October 2026. The Liberia News Agency published the figures on 7 October.
The joint food-safety, sanitation and WASH inspections covered more than 700 premises, including water producers, general businesses, cold-storage facilities and food establishments.
Authorities issued 31 stop orders and 21 warning notices against establishments found operating under unsafe or non-compliant conditions. However, the published findings do not state how many of those enforcement notices were issued specifically to cold stores.
Missing records deepen the concern
The temperature finding is significant, but the absence of adequate records presents a separate control problem.
A temperature recorded during an inspection provides only a snapshot. Without regular logs, regulators cannot determine when an excursion began, how long food remained outside its prescribed range or whether operators took corrective action.
Records would also be needed to determine whether affected products should be released, tested, returned to suppliers or destroyed.
The Commission did not identify the inspected businesses, their locations, the foods being stored or the actual temperatures recorded. It also did not disclose whether inspectors measured cold-room air, food surface temperatures or temperatures at the centre of products.
This means the inspection results should not be interpreted as proof that every product held in the affected facilities was unsafe. The risk depends on the type of food, its actual temperature, the duration of the excursion and whether frozen products partially thawed or were repeatedly refrozen.
Inspection findings test Liberia’s new cold-chain standards
The results come less than nine months after the Liberia Standards Authority handed new cold-chain monitoring standards to the Food Authority of Liberia on 26 January 2026.
At the time, the Food Authority said the standards would be converted into inspection and enforcement tools covering importers, distributors and retailers. Businesses were expected to maintain an uninterrupted cold chain from the products’ origin through distribution in Liberia.
The Food Authority also said the measures would be aligned with Codex and ECOWAS requirements.
Codex guidance generally recommends maintaining quick-frozen foods at a product temperature of -18°C or colder during storage and distribution. Different chilled and frozen products may nevertheless require different controls, meaning the commodity and applicable standard must be known before an excursion can be fully assessed.
Enforcement and follow-up remain unclear
The Commission said its enforcement work forms part of its responsibilities for regulation, certification, monitoring and quality assurance. Its official account reported that the inspection report had been forwarded for additional action.
However, authorities have not disclosed whether food was detained, sampled, condemned or removed from sale following the temperature findings.