FLEISCHWIRTSCHAFT international 6/2018

Fleischwirtschaft international 6_2018
17
Food Safety
The labelling regulation of food in the EU and
other parts of the world although appear to be
similar but are significantly different to accommodate
for the respective country’s need for
informing the consumer.Inorder to supply the
pre-packaged foods across borders, it is necessary
to understand the rules that applies. It will always
be necessary to re-evaluate the regulations
and requirements for labels made for food products
that are exported across countries to ensure
that they are in compliance with the respective
laws.
Genetically,some people appear to be susceptible
to weight gain and obesity but what we eat can
have amajor effect on which genes are expressed
and which are not. Children of obese parents are
much more likely to become obese than children
of lean parents. Non-industrialized societies are
rapidly becoming obese when they start eating
typical Western diets such as engineered junk
foods which are heavily processed with refined
ingredients mixed with additives. These products
are designed to be cheap, last long on the shelf and
taste so incredibly good that they are hard to resist
and by doing so consumers lose control over their
eating behaviour while food manufacturers increases
their market sales and also promote
overeating. In today’s world, children who do not
have knowledge and experience that they are being
misled by the aggravated marketed of junk foods
are becoming obese, diabetic and addicted to junk
foods long before they are old enough to make
their own informed decisions on these things
(GUNNARS,2018). Scientists believe that excessive
intake of sugar may be one of the main causes of
obesity because sugar changes the hormones and
biochemistry of your body when consumed in
excess which in turn contributes to weight gain.
Excess fructose intake may cause insulin resistance
and elevated insulin levels which is linked to
the development of obesity (GUNNARS,2018).
Consumers should pay more attention to the
labels on the food they consume because food
products are not only labelled to meet the standards,
but also to communicate to the consumer
the nutritional and health benefits that could be
derived from purchasing such afood product. It is
important that consumers look out for all these
facts on food labels before making their purchase.
Sometimes people are misinformed or provided
with incorrect information about health and
nutrition through many websites. We should learn
to control our use of such websites (especially with
nutrition and health claims), control our eating
habits, and change our lifestyle in order to avoid
some of the key risk factors (such as added salt,
sugar,and saturated fat) for developing overweight,
metabolic disorders, and related diseases.
References
Literature references can be requested from the
corresponding author or the editorial office,
respectively.
Seth Nuamah
is areturnee expert from Ghana. He holds
several degrees from Universities in Ghana
and Germany.
He has also taken further courses such as
EU Project Management, HACCP, Quality Management and
Marketing for Organic Agricultural Commodities.
Author’s adresses
Francis Obeng
is alecturer in the Environmental
Management and Technology Department
at the Koforidua Technical University in
Koforidua, Ghana.
Seth Nuamah (corresponding author:
nuamahseth@yahoo.co.uk), OAK Avenue 12,East Legon,
Accra, C/o P. O. Box DS 545, Dansoman, Accra, Ghana,
and Francis Obeng (kwasibeng@yahoo.co.uk), Lecturer,
Environmental Management and Technology Department,
Koforidua Technical University, P.O. Box KF 981Koforidua,
Ghana.