Professor Esther Sakyi-Dawson, Associate Professor of Food Science, University of Ghana, has called for an outright ban on non-food-grade plastic wraps used to package hot and oily meals, citing serious health risks to consumers.
Speaking at the World Food Safety Day event in Accra, she revealed that over 60 percent of street food vendors in Ghana use plastics not designed for food contact, which leach harmful chemicals such as Bisphenol A (BPA) and phthalates into meals, particularly when exposed to heat and oil.
During the manufacturing of plastics, some inorganic and organic compounds are added as additives to enhance certain characteristics of the plastics.
“Because these are not covalently bonded to the polymer, they can migrate from the packaging material into the food or drink,” she explained.
Prof. Sakyi-Dawson warned that such chemical exposure is linked to hormonal disruptions and other long-term diseases.
She added that misuse, breakdown, and degradation of plastics had also introduced microplastics into food, describing it as a hidden threat to food safety, and called for urgent policy action on the matter.
Dr Delese Darko, Chief Executive Officer of the Food and Drugs Authority, noted that food safety was not just a technical issue but a shared societal commitment with far-reaching consequences for health, trade, agriculture, and development.
Madam Aurore Risiga, Country Director of the World Food Programme, described unsafe food as a “silent danger”, underscoring its role in illness, stunted growth, and increased vulnerability.
She emphasized that food delivery is backed by a chain of rigorous science and strong systems.
“It is science that moves in trucks, lives in warehouses and lands in homes of families who deserve nothing but the best,” she said, urging a preventive approach to food safety rather than reactive measures.
In 2024, data from the Environmental Health Management and Sanitation Units (EHS) of the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development showed that Ghana reports over 626,000 cases of food poisoning each year.
This results in approximately 298,100 hospitalisations annually and over 90,000 deaths, contributing to about 14 percent of all hospitalisations.
Consequently, the government incurs losses exceeding US$70million annually in efforts to mitigate the food-borne disease burden.,
Globally, the World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that 600 million people suffer from foodborne illnesses, and more than 400,000 deaths occur each year.
It said 91 million people suffer from foodborne diseases annually in Africa, accounting for a third of the global deaths, with 40 per cent occurring in children below five.
In low- and middle-income countries, the economic cost of foodborne illness is estimated at over $100 billion per year.
Dr Fiona Braka, WHO representative to Ghana, said extreme weather events, higher temperatures, and uncertainty in rainfall are expected to impact food safety and increase the risk of existing and emerging foodborne diseases.
She called on the government to champion science-based policies to ensure food safety and improve data collection and sharing to help support regular review of scientific advice
Dr Braka encouraged the public to store food properly by separating raw and cooked food thoroughly, keeping food at safe temperatures, and using safe water and raw materials.
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