That food looks healthy, but have you read the label? - Why you should start reading food labels

• Ghana’s dietary guidelines encourage consumers to read labels on packaged foods before buying and consuming them.

• Front-of-pack warnings are designed to make information about nutrients such as sugar, salt and fat easier to identify.

• Consumers should look beyond the front of the pack and check ingredients, serving size, nutrition information and dates.

When shopping for packaged food, it is easy to focus on the brand, price, attractive packaging or claims such as “natural”, “high protein” or “low fat”.

But there is important information on the package that can tell you more about what you are actually buying, if you take the time to read it.

Food labels provide information about a product’s ingredients, nutritional content, quantity, dates and instructions for storage or use. Ghana’s Food-Based Dietary Guidelines specifically recommend that consumers read labels on pre-packaged foods before purchasing and consuming them.

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Front-of-pack labelling is designed to make important nutritional information easier to notice and understand.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) describes front-of-pack labelling as supplementary nutrition information intended to help consumers understand the nutritional properties of food and make informed purchasing decisions.

In Ghana, health stakeholders are currently campaigning for mandatory front-of-pack warning labels on packaged foods containing high levels of nutrients such as sugar, salt and saturated fats. The campaign, launched in September 2026, is being supported by the Ministry of Health and the Food and Drugs Authority.

This means a shopper could potentially identify important nutritional warnings more quickly instead of having to decipher a small and sometimes complicated nutrition table.

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Even when a product has a clear front-of-pack warning, consumers should still learn to examine the rest of the label.

The ingredients list can tell you what is actually in the product. Look beyond the pictures and marketing claims and examine the ingredients listed on the package.

Ghana's FDA requires pre-packaged food labels to include an ingredients list, among other information.

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Pay attention to nutrients such as sugar, fat, saturated fat and sodium/salt, particularly if you are trying to manage your intake of these nutrients.

Also check the serving size. The amount listed on the nutrition panel may refer to one serving rather than the entire package.

Before buying a packaged food, check the best-before or use-by date, where applicable.

Ghana's FDA lists the relevant date information among the general labelling requirements for pre-packaged foods.

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Words and claims used on food packaging are also part of how products are marketed. WHO notes that some nutrition labels and claims can create misleading perceptions about how healthy a product is.

A product may therefore have an attractive package or a health-related claim, but that does not mean you should skip the nutrition information.

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Reading food labels does not have to become a complicated exercise.

Before putting a packaged food into your shopping basket, pause and check the label. Look at the ingredients, serving size, nutritional information and date, and pay attention to any warning or nutrition information displayed prominently on the package.

The goal is not to make every food purchase stressful. It is to ensure that consumers have the information they need to make informed choices.

As Ghana considers stronger front-of-pack warning labelling, developing the habit of reading food labels can help consumers better understand what they are buying, rather than relying only on the product's name, appearance or advertising claims.