The Ghana Public Health Association (GPHA) has called for the strengthening of regulatory policies to prevent the entry of hazardous food products onto the Ghanaian market.
There should be an efficient system in place to thoroughly check imported food products to help identify and reject unwholesome ones from entering the markets.
Mr James McKeon Amoah, Project Lead of “Assuring Healthier Diets in Ghana through Food-based Policies,” who made the call, said there was the need for effective public health policy aimed at ensuring healthier diets and good health.
Mr Amoah, after a public float in some principal streets in Kumasi, said the association was implementing the Healthier Diets for Healthier Lives Project to help protect the public from hazardous foods.
The float was to create awareness and educate the public on dangers associated with toxic, and unwholesome food items on the market.
He said the project also sought to advocate for policies that would help impose heavy taxes on food items, which contained poisonous elements, and a reduction of taxes on healthier food products.
Mr Amoah attributed the prevalence of diseases such as diabetes and kidney diseases among Ghanaians, to the consumption of foods that were high in sugar and salt.
He said when stringent policies were adopted and implemented, they would surely eliminate some food products that affected healthy lifestyles.
Mrs Cynthia Asante, a Dietician at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi, urged the government to strengthen the policy on food labelling to regulate verified and unverified food items in the system.
GNA
KOM/BM/LAA
16 Feb. 2024
