A Professor of Public Health and Nutrition at the University of Health and Allied Sciences, Professor Paul Amuna, has expressed concern over the poor labelling on most food consumables on the market, stressing that this posed a serious health threat to the country.He has therefore called for tighter regulations and policies on improved food labelling to protect public health across the country.Cut fruit in plasticHe explained that labelling was not a cosmetic feature, but crucial for consumer education and informed decision-making, however, most of the foods on the market, especially locally-produced ones had no labels at all and even those that had were not properly labelled.In addition, he noted that some of those imported had their labelling in languages other than English making it difficult for people to read and understand what has been inscribed on it.Speaking to The Ghanaian Times in an interview last Tuesday, Prof.
Amuna said "We need a policy… we need regulation and some means of enforcement to ensure that foods or food products that get onto the market are properly labelled, and that consumers can make a choice depending on how they see the warning labels that are on the product."This he said had become necessary, given the current trends and growing burden of non-communicable diseases in low and middle income countries (LMICs) including Ghana.He explained that even though there were existing regulations on back-of-pack product labelling by the Food and Drugs Authority (DA) to ensure products meet international standards, its enforcement was not wide spread."Whilst it is mandatory to highlight certain ingredients in the product, many food products in the country particularly lacked clear and accurate front-of-pack nutrition labels, emphasising the need for more effective enforcement," he said.In addition, he said "At the moment in Ghana, we do not have an operational policy focusing on the front of pack labelling of foods, and in particular warning labels."Professor Amuna highlighted the need for a policy on front-of-pack labelling, which would provide clear warnings about unhealthy ingredients or so-called nutrients of concern.Such a policy, he said would not only help consumers to make informed decisions about their diet and health but could help reduce the incidence of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as diabetes, heart disease, and certain cancers.By making such a policy mandatory, it would also help the Food Industry as manufacturers would be incentivised to reformulate their products to make them healthier.He disclosed that, over the last few years, the Ministry of Health, working through the Food and Drugs Authority, and with the help of a team of technical experts, led by Professor Amos Laar, at the School of Public Health, University of Ghana, had been working towards developing this policy as part of efforts to combat non-communicable diseases in the country.He therefore appealed to the government and all relevant stakeholders to champion the cause in making the initiative a policy to improve the quality of the products that come to the market as this serves our common interests to combat non-communicable diseases.By working together, he said the country could develop effective food labelling policy with regulations that benefit public health and promote a healthier food environment.
Such a policy would serve as a benchmark for neighbouring countries in the West Africa region.He further advised consumers to be weary of the expiry date of products by reading the labels and checking to ensure that the product being bought was not expired. BY CYNTHIA ASAMPANA
