Health unit to promote food fortification advocated

M.Y. Ventures, a food supplement company, is advocating the establishment of a national body to promote food fortification in Ghana.

Chief Executive, Dr. M.Y. Caesar says such a unit under the Ministry of Health will ensure Ghanaians eat right to stay healthy and productive.

Food fortification or enrichment is the process of adding micronutrients to food. It is sometimes a public health policy which aims to reduce numbers of people with dietary deficiencies in a population.

Dr. Ceasar told Luv Fm it is not enough to produce food without promoting right consumption of balanced diet.

“We have to get a unit that teaches us how to eat, what to eat and when to eat because as far as the children need nutrients to grow and when you reach the middle ages, you need it to work as a working class; and when you're climbing into old age, you need nutrients to maintain the body”, he stated.

Dr. Caesar was contributing to the need for the Ghanaian workforce to stay healthy as part of Luv Fm's health package - the radio staging a fitness walk on Saturday for corporate Kumasi to stay healthy.

Food fortification was identified as a strategy by the World Health Organization and UN's Food and Agriculture Organization to decrease the incidence of nutrient deficiencies at the global level.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh/Luv Fm/Ghana