The extent of food adulteration and contamination in Ghana

Abstract

This report presents the results of a field and literature survey on Food adulteration and contamination in Ghana. It is an extract from a consultancy assignment report carried out by the author for the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations in 1989. The results obtained indicate that food adulteration exists in most regions in the country being highly prevalent in "ready to eat" foods, locally prepared alcoholic beverages and foodstuffs normally sold in the ground or milled forms. Adulteration was found to be common in big markets in the urban cities and was carried out basically with the ultimate aim of increasing the sellers profit margin. Food items from all the commodity groupings are adulterated in one form or the other in the country. The various foods, their adulterants and the the forms of adulteration are presented in this report. Regarding food contamination, the survey showed that most traditional processing, preservation and preparation methods for foods are carried out under unhygienic conditions which are likely to lead to contamination of the final product. It came to light that fertilizers are sometimes misapplied and various pesticides are misused for hunting and fishing purposes in the country. Interviews with officials of various related Government establishments revealed that limited research work has been carried out on food contaminants such as the pesticides residues, heavy metals and fungal toxins in foods. The major constraint identified was the lack of appropriate equipment. The results of the survey indicate an urgent need for the promulgation of food laws for the country and the establishment of a national food contamination monitoring programme backed with the relevant laboratory facilities and public education campaigns