Mr Labram Musah, National Coordinator, Ghana NCD Alliance, has expressed the need for Ghana to have a comprehensive Front-of-Pack Label (FOPL) policies to prevent non-communication diseases (NCDs) among the population.
He said: ‘Ghana is working on FOPL policies already, though not as comprehensive as we would have wished.’
Mr Musah, who is also the Executive Director of the Vision for Alternative Development – Ghana (VALD-Ghana), expressed the concern during a webinar on ‘Understanding the Importance of Front-of-Pack Labelling from the Data and Regulatory Perspectives.’
It was organised jointly by the Healthy Diets for Healthy Lives (HD4HL), Ghana NCD Alliance (GhNCDA), and the Coalition of Actors for Public Health Advocacy (CAPHA).
Mr Musah stated that FOPL regulations had spread through Latin American countries and other geographies as a cost-effective intervention to provide clear and simple information to the population, adding; ‘this information indicates when a packaged product is high in nutrients of concern and/or contains food additives that can be harmful to health.’
He said the World Health Organization (WHO) considered FOPL as a form of supplementary nutrition information that serves as an important policy implementation tool that facilitates the consumers’ understanding of the nutritional values of foods.
According to the WHO the policies serve two very important purposes: first, they help consumers to make healthier food choices and on the other hand, drives positive reformulation within the food industry (WHO 2021).
The National Coordinator said: ‘Many countries have recognized this as a key priority and have started to implement public policies to promote healthier food environments and encourage and facilitate better consumer decisions.’
Mr Musah stated that food labelling had been found to be effective and mostly was at no cost to the countries.
Instead, the industry bears the cost of printing and placing them on their packages, adding; ‘This is one of the reasons FOPL is a cost-effective strategy for informing consumer choices, thereby reducing NCDs.’
He cautioned policymakers to be wary of industry interference in the development of FOPL policies, saying; ‘The food and beverages industry will try to fight against the policies.’
‘We are all aware of the progress the world has made on health warnings of tobacco packages whose effectiveness has been seen in stopping the initiation of the products especially among young people,’ he reminded.
Other speakers were from the University of Ghana, School of Public Health, Food and Drugs Authority and the Ghana Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics who highlighted on data and regulations.
Source: Ghana News Agency
