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What’s Really on Your Plate? The Hidden Dangers of Food Adulteration on Your Gut Health

By Wisdom Ahlidja
10 Aug 2026

It is often said that you are what you eat, and there is a great deal of truth behind this expression. The foods we choose to consume every day play a significant role in shaping our overall health, energy levels, and well-being.

The recent surge in food adulteration in Ghana is very alarming. Food adulteration is the process by which the quality of food is reduced by either adding foreign material or removing important ingredients to maximize profit. This can be intentional, due to deliberate actions of the producer, or accidental, arising from non-adherence to proper production processes. These practices are usually unregulated, posing a threat to the health of consumers.

For the past decade, there have been widespread reports of food adulteration involving fish, meat, grains, spices, and beverages in Ghana. For instance, pepper and tomato powder have been adulterated with annatto seeds, dried cola nuts or pear seed powder and honey has been adulterated with molasses. Similarly, the ripening of fruits and vegetables is accelerated using calcium carbide, commonly known among local people as carbide. Additionally, palm oil, which is found in the kitchen of most homes in Ghana, has been reported to be adulterated with Sudan IV dye, known by market women as “shuudin.”

A recent disturbing video posted on social media shows people mixing beans with cement or using paracetamol to soften beans when preparing it. Furthermore, plantain chips which is loved by most Ghanaians were reported to be fried with plastics. During an interaction with a fishmonger in Madina Market, one of the popular markets in Accra, she admitted hearing about the use of formalin, a chemical used to preserve dead bodies from decaying, to preserve fish. This paints a clear picture of the toxins that go into our stomach daily and disrupt our gut microbes.

The human gut is a holobiont containing a community of trillions of microbes, including bacteria, viruses, protozoa, and fungi. These microbes work together to keep us healthy. They interact with each other to release substances such as propionate, butyrate, and acetate, along with other metabolites that regulate our immune system and affect our overall health.

Eating adulterated food can disrupt and harm the gut ecosystem. For instance, a study shows that ingestion of Sudan IV binds to gut bacterial cells and prevents these bacteria from taking up nutrients, slowing their growth rates significantly and causing them to release harmful aromatic amines such as o-toluidine, an active genotoxin. Also, the use of calcium carbide to speed up the ripening of fruits and vegetables chronically disrupts the gut microbiome by suppressing beneficial bacteria, increasing intestinal permeability and promoting systemic inflammation. Formalin exposure causes a significant reduction in the relative abundance of beneficial bacteria such as Lactobacillus and Nitrogeniibecter, while markedly increasing the abundance of pathogenic ones.

Cement contains corrosive compounds such as sulfur trioxide, alumina, silica, alkali, and lime which may adversely affect the gut microbiome. Exposure to these compounds has been associated with decrease in the growth and abundance of beneficial bacteria. This microbial imbalance may trigger neuroinflammatory pathways via the gut brain-axis, hinder the intestinal barrier's resistance to pathogenic bacteria and suppress the production and metabolism of short chain fatty acids which are essential for maintaining gut health, immune function, and metabolic homeostasis. Similarly, the use of paracetamol by some vendors to soften meat and beans is very detrimental. Paracetamol is a painkiller; however, when it is used for cooking, it breaks down into another deadly substance called 4-aminophenol which can be toxic to gut microbes.

Frying plantain chips with plastic is very harmful to gut health. When plastic is heated, chemicals like bisphenol A (BPA) and phthalates can leak into the plantains. When one eats food contaminated with these chemicals, they can disrupt the beneficial bacteria in the gut. This affects how your gut processes amino acids and produces short-chain fatty acids and increase the risk of obesity and impair blood sugar control and brain function.

Taken together, these toxic substances can disrupt the intestinal microenvironment by altering the composition and function of the gut microbiota, potentially contributing to an increased prevalence of diseases in the population.

To tackle food adulteration in Ghana, I call on regulatory bodies such as the Food and Drugs Authority, the Ghana Standards Authority, and the Food Research Institute of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) to intensify surveillance in our markets. Farmers, traders, and market women should also be educated about the harmful effects of food adulteration on public health. Finally, strict penalties should be imposed on anyone caught adulterating food to serve as a strong deterrent to others.

Together, let us work to make sure that the food on our plates supports healthy gut ecosystem and general well-being.

Wisdom Ahlidja
PhD Student
Center for Hypertension and Personalized Medicine
University of Toledo

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