The 2026–2030 strategy promises stronger surveillance, laboratory capacity and enforcement after a nationwide assessment identified lead and cadmium failures in selected food and consumer products.
GHANA – Ghana has launched a five-year national strategy to reduce exposure to lead, cadmium, mercury and arsenic across its food system, following evidence of heavy-metal contamination in selected products sold around the country.
The National Strategic Plan for Heavy Metals Reduction in Food 2026–2030 was launched in Accra on 18 September 2026. It is intended to strengthen regulation, surveillance, laboratory capacity, industry compliance, research and public education.
The plan brings together the Ministry of Health, Food and Drugs Authority, Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Environmental Protection Agency, Ghana Standards Authority, Minerals Commission and other partners. UNICEF provided technical and financial support for its development.
Deputy Health Minister Prof Dr Grace Ayensu-Danquah said the strategy should help Ghana prevent, detect and control contamination at different points in the food chain. Potential entry routes identified at the launch included mining and industrial pollution, agricultural inputs, food processing and contaminated packaging or food-contact materials.
However, the available surveillance results identify contaminated finished products, not the precise origin of the metals. Further investigation would therefore be required before linking individual failures to mining, farming, processing, packaging or another source.
Nationwide testing provided the evidence
The strategy follows a national surveillance exercise conducted by the Ghana FDA and UNICEF across all 16 administrative regions.
The resulting National Summary Report on Heavy Metal Contaminants in Selected Products was published in July 2025, more than a year before the strategy was launched. The report says 1,691 samples were collected from open markets, supermarkets, shops and postnatal weighing centres.
The assessment targeted turmeric, cereal mixes, bentonite clay, kohl and skin-lightening creams. The products were selected because of their market presence, suspected or previously reported contamination and potential health consequences.
Samples were analysed using atomic absorption spectroscopy under quality-control procedures that included certified reference materials, duplicate analyses and calibration checks.
Among the headline findings:
- 42.09% of turmeric samples failed the report’s lead limit.
- 29% of cereal-mix samples failed the applicable cadmium limit.
- 24.62% of bentonite-clay samples failed the lead limit.
These are failure rates among the selected product categories and should not be interpreted as showing that the same proportion of Ghana’s entire food supply is contaminated. The exercise was a targeted, cross-sectional assessment rather than a survey of every food category sold nationally.
The Ghana FDA says it has initiated recalls of contaminated cereal-mix brands and nationwide recalls of implicated turmeric products. It has also announced tighter port surveillance for kohl, engagement with bentonite-clay producers and annual monitoring of high-risk foods and cosmetics.
Handheld analyser to expand field screening
UNICEF also supplied the FDA with a handheld X-ray fluorescence, or XRF, analyser to support more rapid field testing. The FDA said the equipment would help it check foods and cooking utensils for heavy metals without relying exclusively on samples being transported to a central laboratory.
The addition could help inspectors screen more products and prioritise suspicious samples for detailed laboratory examination.