The Ministry of Food and Agriculture inaugurated a mini launch for the development of National Food Based Dietary Guidelines at the Royale Fiesta Hotel on 1st December, 2020.
It was a short launch that had only the main representatives of the various departments that makes up the task team assigned to handle these guidelines.
The Chief Director of MoFA, Mr. Robert Patrick Ankobiah read a review endorsing the development of the guidelines. The review acknowledged the various representatives at the launch. Thus Finance, Research and Academia, Trade, Education, Fisheries and aquaculture, Gender, Statistical Unit and the United Nation Agencies.
The Food based Dietary guidelines are meant to assist the stakeholders involved to draw a plan that will help know the right way to combine our cultivated food in their proportions for a balance diet for the normal or layman to get a proper way of eating and living a healthy lifestyle.
He further discussed the latest National Food Composition Tables which was in 1976 and informed the Food and Drugs Authority to continue action to make the Food Composition Table a success.
The Chief Director extended his gratitude to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN for their support and help both technically and financially.
However, there were some challenges outlined, and these are the nutritional food composition database, which simply means, they rely on information based on old systems that need urgent amendments and there is no data to check the rate of food consumption so there is lack of sustaining the available produce.
Finally, there was a swearing in of the selected officials that make up the Task Team in charge of planning the guidelines.
This was a virtual launch done to avoid the crowding of people because of the existing pandemic.