Food alert: Most processed tomato impure - Nutritionist reveals

Most of the processed tomato products on the Ghanaian market are not pure tomato paste but tomato mixtures, a registered nutritionist has revealed.

Associate Professor Kingsley Kwadwo Asare Preko, who is the Vice-Dean of the School of Medical Sciences of the University of Cape Coast, explained that whereas tomato paste is a 100 per cent tomato concentrate with no additives, and therefore beneficial to the body, a tomato mixture is just a mixture of tomatoes and other ingredients, including additives whose products include sugar.

Prof. Preko pointed out that the three types of processed tomato products were tomato paste, which was 100 per cent tomato concentrate made by draining the moisture out of the tomato; tomato puree, which was made up of 95 per cent tomato but a bit lighter compared to tomato paste, with a bit of mix; and tomato mixture, which was far lighter.

Nutritionwise, he explained, tomato mixtures were not too beneficial to the body as compared to tomato paste.

“In terms of nutritional value, it will not be as best as the real tomato paste because it doesn’t have all the necessary things that you are expected to get. Tomato mixtures are just a mixture of anything; if you have a small quantity of tomato and small additives and mixtures, you can do a tomato mix,” Prof. Preko said.

“The varied preservatives that are used and all that don’t help when we are trying to control our sugar intake, (and) when we are trying to control our salt intake. It gives you another thing that you should worry about,” he added.

Prof. Preko disclosed this in an interview with the Daily Graphic on the sidelines of a two-day training programme for journalists on Front-of-Pack Warning Labels (FOPWL).

The event was organised by SEND Ghana in partnership with the Ghana Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (GAND).

Prof. Preko accordingly asked the public to check the nutritional content on the labels of such products when making purchases in order to make informed decisions on whether they wanted to buy tomato paste, mixture or puree.

FOPWL is a simplified, often graphic or colour-coded label placed on the front of food packaging to easily alert consumers to certain characteristics of the product.

These labels provide clear and easily understandable warning labels on food products that contain high levels of nutrients of public health concern, namely sugars, salts, trans fats, saturated fats, additives and non-sugar sweeteners, among others.

Despite the proven benefits of FOPWL in curbing unhealthy food consumption and reducing non-communicable diseases, Ghana has not yet implemented a comprehensive regulatory measure to reduce the increasing health risk.

Canned tomatoes

Prof. Preko said it could be difficult for the public to detect the difference between tomato paste, mixture and puree, adding that this was why it was important to look at the nutritional content on the labels of the products to make a choice.

Associate Professor Kingsley Kwadwo Asare Preko, a registered nutritionist and Vice Dean of the School of Medical Sciences, University of Cape Coast, speaking at the two-day training programme organised by SEND Ghana in partnership with Ghana Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, for journalists

He advised the public to check labels on products because they offered an idea about the composition of the product, including the date of production, method of preparation and ingredients, and also about the manufacturer.

He said the nutritional information on labels also advised consumers of the serving portion or size of the nutrients in the product they should consume, stressing that the major nutrients relevant to the body were protein, carbohydrates and fats.

Serving size

Prof. Preko said it was important for the public to adhere to the serving size or portions of products, otherwise, they could create problems for themselves when they overly consumed them.

“If the serving size is 30 grammes and you are eating twice or three times of the product, it means you are no longer consuming 30 grammes, but 60 or 90 grammes, and overly consuming them may give you issues,” he said.

Explaining the reason for the training, the Project Coordinator of SEND Ghana, Levlyn Konadu Asiedu, said Ghana was currently facing significant health challenges, including rising rates of diabetes and hypertension, and that those issues were largely attributable to unhealthy dietary patterns characterised by high consumption of sugars, trans fats and excessive salt.

In response to the concerns, she said, SEND Ghana and GAND were advocating the implementation of mandatory FOPWL to help consumers to easily identify ultra-processed foods high in sugar, salt and fats.

Ms Asiedu said the training was, therefore, to strengthen the capacity of the journalists on the importance of FOPWL and how they could contribute to its awareness and support the advocacy.