The role of regulatory bodies in protecting food consumers. A case study of food and drugs board.

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Date
2012-08
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KNUST
Abstract
"We are what we eat" is an old proverb. Our nutritional status, health, physical and mental faculties depend on the food we eat and how we eat it. Access to good quality food has been man's main endeavor from the earliest days of human existence. Safety of food is a basic requirement of food quality. "Food safety" implies absence or acceptable and safe levels of contaminants, adulterants, naturally occurring toxins or any other substance that may make food injurious to health on an acute or chronic basis. Food quality can be considered as a complex characteristic of food that determines its value or acceptability to consumers. Besides safety, quality attributes include: nutritional value; organoleptic properties such as appearance, color, texture, taste; and functional properties. The absence of a Consumer Protection Act and an active institution to receive and address consumer complaints complicate the situation of food consumers being exploited. Though regulatory bodies are there to protect consumers they are restricted by a number of issues. The influx of products with foreign language label, no manufactured or expiry dates as well as country of origin poses a health risk to food consumers. The overall objectives of this study were to examine the performance of the Food and Drugs Board (FDB) in protecting food consumers and identify ways through which traders use to exploit food consumers. Explanatory research design was used, convenient sampling technique to collect the necessary data. A sample size of one hundred and seven food consumers was sampled from the Central Business District Adum. Basic frequency analysis was used to analysis the data presenting results with tables and charts. The findings proved that food consumers with higher educational background know their rights and responsibilities, and also read labels on food products to inform their decision to purchase. Though the Food and Drugs Board (FDB) faces some challenges such as personnel and logistics, they do their best to protect consumers by publishing in the news papers some unwholesome products and also destroy such products under the board’s supervision. The study recommends that the educational role of the FDB should be strengthened to enable them educate food consumer about their activities. Public education in the form Radio and Television programs should be done in local language to benefit food consumers with little or no formal education.
Description
A Thesis submitted to the Department of Marketing And Corporate Strategy, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of MASTERS IN BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION (STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT AND CONSULTING)
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