Why Ghana must urgently regulate hot food packaging – Nsemkeka

Dr Nyantakyi’s “Rude” Wake-Up Call

Every morning across Ghana, thousands of people begin their day with a cup of koko, rice water, oblayo, often poured steaming hot into thin plastic bags by roadside vendors. It is a familiar scene – one so normal that we barely pause to consider the risks. But a recent warning from the Ashanti Regional.

Director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Dr. Jackson Adiyiah Nyantakyi, demands our attention. According to him, drinking hot porridge from a plastic bag can be as dangerous as smoking tens of cigarettes in a day. That’s not just a metaphor – it is a sobering reflection of the silent chemical assault we may be unleashing on our bodies each morning.

For some, this claim may sound exaggerated while others are quick to dismiss the concern in the name of convenience, culture, or economic survival. But the science behind this warning is real, and the danger is not new. Heating plastic, especially the flimsy, low-grade types commonly used by food vendors – causes it to release harmful chemicals like bisphenol A (BPA) and phthalates, which are linked to hormone disruption, cancers, and reproductive health complications.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), over 13 million deaths globally each year are due to preventable environmental exposures, including harmful chemicals in food contact materials. As public health advocate Dr. Nyantakyi aptly puts it: “What enters your body should heal, not harm. We cannot keep serving breakfast with a side of poison.”

Should Affordability Lead Us to Death and Diseases?

One of the most commonly heard objections to banning the use of plastic bags for hot food is cost. Plastic is cheap, accessible, and efficient particularly for low-income vendors and buyers who rely on convenience to survive the economic grin of daily life. At first glance, a policy restricting plastic food packaging seems like an unfair burden on the poor but dig deeper, and this argument begins to unravel.

What we save in cedis today, we pay for dearly tomorrow in hospital fees, medication, and lives cut short by preventable diseases. In orphans left uncared for, in heavier burdens on society and the economy. That is why affordability must be weighed against consequence. Just as Ghana moved decisively to regulate tobacco and alcohol advertising due to their long-term health effects, so must we now address the slow poison leaching into our food from hot plastic. We would never allow a cancer-causing chemical into our koko pot – so why do we tolerate it in the container?

Moreover, protecting livelihoods and protecting lives do not have to be opposing goals. The government can support vendors through a subsidy programme for safer packaging alternatives, encourage cooperatives to buy in bulk, and invest in community-based packaging innovation using biodegradable materials like plantain or banana leaves, ceramic cups, and paper wraps; many of which are rooted in Ghana’s own traditions.

In the end, true affordability must factor in human health. Plastic may be cheap, but cancer is not.

Alternatives and Innovations Beckon

Another popular objection is that there are no viable or affordable alternatives to plastic bags for packaging hot foods. It’s a fair concern – plastic has dominated Ghana’s informal food economy for decades due to its low cost and convenience. But the claim that we have no alternative is simply untrue. The problem is not absence, but under-investment and under-promotion.

Long before plastic became commonplace, Ghanaians wrapped kenkey in corn husks, used calabashes for soups, and stored meals in earthenware bowls. These were hygienic, biodegradable, and free of chemical leaching. In fact, many of these options remain in use across rural and peri-urban communities today. In places like India, banana leaves are widely used for food packaging, and in Kenya, startups are now producing heat-resistant biodegradable wraps from cassava and sugarcane waste.

Innovation is not lacking – it is policy support that’s missing. With the right investment and incentives, Ghana can become a continental leader in sustainable packaging. Imagine youth-led businesses producing branded paper koko containers, or cooperatives crafting food-safe palm wraps for mass use. These solutions aren’t fantasies; they are opportunities waiting to be unlocked.

The government has a critical role to play here; funding local research into biodegradable packaging, reducing import tariffs on safe materials, and supporting micro-enterprises that specialise in eco-friendly containers. Educational institutions can also introduce packaging innovation challenges to inspire student-led solutions.

To say that plastic is the only option is to deny our past and sabotage our future. Alternatives exist. What we need is the will to embrace and scale them up.

Transition Plans Protect Better Than Delay

Critics of regulation often argue that banning plastic food packaging will harm the informal economy, particularly small-scale food vendors – many of whom are women and young people working to support their families. It’s a valid concern but we must distinguish between genuine protection and harmful procrastination.

History shows us that public health regulations often face initial resistance, especially when they challenge everyday behaviour. When seat belts were first made mandatory, there was pushback. When smoking in public places was banned, businesses feared losses but over time, these measures saved lives and became accepted norms. The same can happen with food safety regulations if change is managed with empathy and support.

Government action must be pro-poor, not anti-poor. Rather than delay reforms in the name of protecting small vendors, we must accompany them through the transition. For example, government can provide startup kits of safe, reusable packaging to vendors in high-risk areas like schools, lorry stations, and markets; offer tax incentives or microcredit for cooperatives and local producers who develop affordable eco-packaging; organise training sessions on hygienic, chemical-free food handling in collaboration with metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies and food vendors’ associations.

By phasing out harmful plastic gradually – say, over 12 to 18 months – vendors can adapt without losing income, and consumers can be reconditioned to accept new norms.

Protecting livelihoods does not mean maintaining harmful practices. It means equipping our vendors with tools for safer service. When we delay life-saving policies in the name of empathy, we end up enabling danger. True compassion walks with people toward health, not away from it.

We Bridge Public Awareness Gaps

A common defence against regulating hot food packaging is that most Ghanaians simply don’t know the risks. While that’s true, it should not be used as an excuse for inaction. On the contrary, it is a call to intensify education, not to abandon regulation.

When the dangers of unclean water became known, Ghana didn’t wait for everyone to understand cholera before promoting safe water storage and chlorination. When COVID-19 struck, the government did not wait for universal comprehension before mandating masks and handwashing. In all these cases, policy was introduced alongside public education. That is the model we must follow now.

Yes, many Ghanaians may not realise that putting steaming koko, beans, or kenkey in plastic bags exposes them to dangerous petrochemical compounds. But that only underscores why government, civil society, and traditional authorities must urgently launch nationwide awareness campaigns. Public understanding doesn’t need to be perfect before we protect public health. Indeed, policy often leads awareness – just as laws against drunk driving made many people understand alcohol’s danger behind the wheel.

Let’s not wait until cancers rise and fertility declines before we act. Education must go hand in hand with regulation. Together, they change not just behaviour, but culture as well.

Why Ghana Must Urgently Regulate Hot Food Packaging (Part 2)

Weak Enforcement Isn’t a Justification for Inaction

Some argue that because Ghana already struggles to enforce existing environmental and sanitation laws, adding new regulations on plastic food packaging would be pointless. This is a dangerously flawed argument. Weak enforcement is not a reason to give up – it is a reason to strengthen systems.

By that logic, we wouldn’t need any traffic laws because some drivers ignore red lights. Or we wouldn’t punish illegal mining because a few galamsey operators slip through the cracks. No public system is perfect, but failure to enforce should lead to reform, not retreat.

In fact, Ghana already has a foundation to build on. Environmental health officers, local assembly by-laws, and community task forces are in place and can be empowered to monitor and enforce safe food handling practices. The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) also have mandates that could be expanded to regulate packaging used for hot consumables.

What’s needed is a targeted, collaborative approach: train and resource market-based health inspectors; introduce low-cost certification schemes for vendors who comply; and engage metropolitan, municipal, and district assemblies (MMDAs) to include food packaging in their sanitation and public health inspections. Additionally, digital platforms can be used to report unsafe practices anonymously, and awards can be given to markets or vendors who lead in safe, eco-conscious food sales.

Ghana’s regulatory capacity will only improve if it is tested, funded, and supported. To do nothing because enforcement is hard is to accept a silent epidemic in the name of bureaucratic comfort.

Cultural Norms Can and Must Evolve

One of the more emotional arguments against regulating plastic packaging is that it’s “part of our way of life.” Indeed, for decades, buying waakye, koko, or gobe in black rubber bags has been a common practice of urban and peri-urban Ghanaian life but culture is not static. What is cultural can be changed especially when it endangers lives.

Consider that at one time, open defecation was normal in many communities; so was child marriage. Smoking indoors, excessive cane punishment in schools, and drink-driving were also widely accepted. Yet, each of these practices have been challenged and redefined through education, legislation, and advocacy. Why? Because people recognised that public health and dignity must evolve with evidence.

The idea that plastic use is too embedded in our culture to change underestimates the Ghanaian people. We are resourceful, adaptive, and capable of positive transformation. It’s not about discarding culture – it’s about refining it in light of irrefutable evidence.

We can begin to reframe safe food packaging as a form of respect for life, for the body, and for the environment. Community leaders, faith leaders, teachers, and artists all have a role in this cultural shift. If we could make “say no to HIV/AIDS” a national call, we can do the same for “say no to hot food in rubber.” After all, true cultural pride is not about resisting change at all costs. It’s about protecting what makes us whole and that includes our health.

Evidence Guides Policy, Not Convenience

Some skeptics have dismissed the EPA Director’s claim that drinking hot porridge from a plastic bag is equivalent to smoking 36 cigarettes, calling it an exaggeration or a scare tactic. But let’s not get lost in the metaphor. The science is clear and deeply unsettling.

Multiple peer-reviewed studies have confirmed that heating plastics, especially thin, low-grade types like polyethylene, leads to the leaching of toxic substances such as Bisphenol A (BPA), phthalates, and styrene. These chemicals are classified as endocrine disruptors, meaning they interfere with hormone function, and many are carcinogenic or linked to reproductive damage. Children, pregnant women, and the elderly are particularly vulnerable to these effects.

International bodies such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) have raised repeated alarms about plastic use in food contact materials especially under heat. These are not fringe voices; they are the global gold standard in public health guidance.

Even if the comparison to cigarette smoking was made to drive urgency, it serves a critical purpose: to jolt the public into awareness of an invisible but deadly exposure and it should be taken seriously.

The real danger lies not in exaggeration, but in minimisation. Policymakers must resist the temptation to delay action just because the truth is uncomfortable or unpopular. When science speaks clearly, leadership must follow boldly.

Conclusion: Choosing Health Over Harm

Ghana has reached a moment of truth. We can continue to trade our health for convenience, wrap our meals in poison, and call it culture or we can act decisively to protect ourselves and future generations. The science is overwhelming, the risks are real and the longer we delay, the more lives we place in danger quietly, invisibly, daily.

This is not a call to punish the poor or demonise the everyday food vendor. It is a call to stand with them, to support a just transition toward safer practices, and to hold government accountable for creating the enabling environment that makes such a transition possible. Regulation, when combined with education, support, and innovation, is not oppressive – it is protective.

We have the knowledge, we have the cultural wisdom and with political will and public engagement, we can make Ghana a leader in health-conscious food packaging across Africa. Let us not serve our people warm meals laced with silent killers. Let us serve them dignity, safety, and a future free from avoidable suffering. Our health is not disposable. Our nation cannot package its future in poisonous plastic.