The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) has detected lead and cadmium in some food products and cosmetics on the Ghanaian market and plans to intensify testing of food products and cooking utensils for heavy metal contamination.
Deputy Chief Executive for the Food Division at the FDA, Roderick Kwabena Daddy-Adjei, said the findings had raised concerns about the potential health risks associated with exposure to heavy metals, particularly for children and pregnant women.
Speaking at the launch of the National Strategic Plan for Heavy Metal Reduction in Food in Accra, he said the FDA would work with other institutions to identify and control sources of contamination. A handheld XRF machine donated by UNICEF, he added, would help the FDA conduct more field testing.
“From the different food products that we picked – turmeric, food for the children, Winniemix, corn, what people say Tom Brown, Kaji Kaji and the rest – all that we picked, in the end, we realised that there is lead in our food and in some of our cosmetics. So, we have to come up with a plan,” he said.
“Some of the strategies include sensitisation, making people aware that all is not well. The women who are taking ‘Shire’, we are making them aware that some of those products are not necessary. Because in many of them, you may have lead.
“Even to our surprise, one of the things that we saw was that there’s what we call cadmium. These are heavy metals. Heavy metals are chemicals that are in small quantities, but they can give us a lot of problems. They can cause cancer; they can affect our liver. We are not in safe times. Some of the cooking utensils may have lead.”
The announcement follows a first-of-its-kind nationwide assessment conducted by the FDA in partnership with UNICEF, which analysed 1,691 commonly used food and cosmetic products across all 16 regions for lead, cadmium and mercury. The findings, released in 2025, revealed widespread contamination, with unbranded products from informal markets posing the highest risk.
According to the national summary report, kohl — locally known as Kaji Kaji — recorded a 77.97 per cent failure rate for lead, with the Upper East and Eastern regions recording 100 per cent failure. Turmeric recorded a 42.09 per cent failure rate for lead, with Greater Accra and Central regions most affected. Cereal mixes, including Tom Brown, recorded a 29 per cent failure rate for cadmium, with the North East, Western North and Oti regions hardest hit. Bentonite clay, known locally as ayilor, showed a 24.62 per cent failure rate for lead, notably in the North East and Greater Accra.
Lead levels as high as 11,000 parts per million were recorded in some kohl samples — a hundred times above the safe limit of 20ppm, according to UNICEF health specialist Dr Emmanuel Kyeremateng-Amoah. Industrial sources such as used car batteries and improper handling of electronic waste were identified as significant contributors to lead contamination.
The health implications are severe. Lead is highly toxic, especially to children, pregnant women and women of childbearing age. When absorbed into the body, even in small amounts, it can cause irreversible damage to the brain, impair development, reduce intelligence quotient and cause long-term behavioural and learning difficulties. Cadmium exposure has been linked to cancer, kidney disease, fragile bones and lung damage.
A blood lead level survey conducted by the Ghana Health Service, Pure Earth and UNICEF in 2022/2023 found that out of 3,227 children tested, 1,725 — 53.5 per cent — had blood lead levels exceeding 5 micrograms per decilitre, the World Health Organization’s level requiring action. In Northern Ghana, 79.7 per cent of children tested had elevated blood lead levels.
The contamination crisis has also been linked to illegal small-scale mining, known locally as galamsey. A joint study by the FDA and UNICEF in 2025 exposed alarming levels of lead, mercury, cadmium and other heavy metals in foods and cosmetic products consumed daily by millions of Ghanaians. Research at abandoned galamsey sites has found hazardous levels of arsenic, cadmium and lead in crops and water, with cancer risks associated with elevated concentrations of these metals.
In the cookware sector, Pure Earth Ghana has documented that metal cookware, particularly inexpensive locally produced pots known as “Dadesen,” is a key source of lead exposure. The FDA has called for a ban on these pots after investigations uncovered hazardous levels of lead used in their manufacturing. Of 293 cooking pots assessed during a study, 224 — 77 per cent — were found to contain levels of lead high enough to indicate the potential for a dangerous amount of lead to leach into food. Old plumbing systems also contribute to lead exposure, as the metal can leach into drinking water or be inhaled during cooking.
Deputy Health Minister Prof. Dr Grace Ayensu-Danquah, who spoke at the launch, stressed that the National Strategic Plan for Heavy Metal Reduction in Food must deliver measurable results by 2030, calling for stronger accountability, adequate funding and enhanced technical capacity. She outlined specific expectations for each stakeholder group involved in its implementation, from industry and academia to development partners, civil society, the media and consumers, framing the initiative as a shared national responsibility.
“Accountability must be real, not ceremonial. This means defined indicators, regular reporting, public discourse of progress and independent review,” she said. She also cautioned against irresponsible public reporting, warning that inaccurate or sensationalised reporting “does not protect public health but instead erodes consumer confidence”.
The FDA has already rolled out several measures in response to the findings. These include developing new guidelines and tightening oversight for kohl products, including stronger port surveillance; expanding safety checks for cereal mixes and initiating recalls of contaminated brands; nationwide recalls of implicated turmeric products and stricter inspection of imports; and gathering information on the activities of bentonite clay producers to inform regulatory interventions while engaging them on safer practices.
Mr Daddy-Adjei expressed commitment to working with agencies and partners to set standards and offer proper training for fabricators of locally made pots to prevent the use of contaminated materials in food contact items. He urged the public to report food safety issues to the FDA, indicating that the authority needed adequate resources to acquire the necessary equipment to conduct testing and ensure regulatory compliance.
UNICEF has called for immediate action to raise public awareness about the hidden dangers in traditional cosmetics and foods, strengthen product safety regulation and enforcement, and promote routine screening for lead exposure, especially among vulnerable children and pregnant women.
With the strategic plan now launched and a 2030 deadline set, the success of Ghana’s efforts to curb heavy metal contamination will depend on sustained financing, inter-agency coordination and a fundamental shift in public attitudes toward food safety — particularly in informal markets where the most contaminated products are found.
