Nutrition And Health-Related Information Disclosure On Pre-Packed Food Products From Local Retail Shops In Accra
Date
2022
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
ajfand
Abstract
The prevalence of obesity and diet related non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are
rapidly increasing in Africa. Consumption of pre-packaged foods is one of the main
drivers of these NCDs. Pre-packaged foods tend to contain high levels of energy, fat,
sugar, and salt, which are known risk factors for NCDs. Food labels can guide consumers
to make informed healthy food choices. Therefore, it is important to analyze how healthrelated
information is communicated on food labels. In Ghana, there is paucity of
evidence on what health-related information is available to consumers of pre-packaged
foods. This study describes health-related information on labelled pre-packaged foods
sold in local retail shops in Accra. A cross-sectional survey and quantitative content
analysis of food label information were employed in this study. Pre-packaged food labels
photograph data were sourced from shops and content analyzed to describe their healthrelated
information. Nutrition and health-related information were classified using the
International Network for Food and Obesity/Non-Communicable Diseases Research,
Monitoring and Action Support (INFORMAS) system. Three hundred and fifty-one
(N=351) pre-packaged foods and non-alcoholic beverages were sampled, out of which
2.3% products were unlabelled. Out of 343 labelled products, 92% disclosed ingredient
list information and 68.8% had nutrition declaration. Between the two nutrition labelling
formats: Back-of-Pack (BOP) and Front of Pack (FOP), BOP was the dominant (87.3%)
format. Various types of FOPs were identified however, Guidelines Daily Allowance
(GDA) was the most common format. The study found that 18% of labelled pre-packaged
foods carried nutrition claim and about 7% had a health claim. Most of the claims were
written and the others were a combination of words, numbers, and pictures/symbols. This
study has shown a high disclosure of health-related label information on pre-packaged
food but information presentations on labels were not consistent. The insight gained from
this study shows that the presentation of health-related label information does not meet
the current recommendations of Codex and the benchmarks set out by INFORMAS in
promoting a healthy food environment.
Description
Research Article
Keywords
Pre-packaged Foods, Food/Nutrition labels, health-related information, retail shops, Accra