Conference Abstract | Volume 8, Abstract 0002 (ConfProc7) | Published: 24 Mar 2026
Shirley Gloria Davis1,&, Rita Agyekumwah Asante1,2
1Ghana Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Programme, University of Ghana School of Public Health, Accra, Ghana, 2Food and Drug Authority, Central Region, Ghana
&Corresponding author: Shirley Gloria Davis; Food and Drug Authority, Central Region, Ghana, Email: shiglodav18@gmail.com ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-0531-0589
Received: 21 Aug 2025, Accepted: 28 Oct 2025, Published: 24 Mar 2026
Domain: Surveillance System Evaluation
This is part of the Proceedings of the 8th Ghana FELTP Scientific Conference and FELTP Competency Graduation, Accra, Ghana, 10 – 11 December, 2025
Keywords: Food, Registration, Surveillance, Central Region
©Shirley Gloria Davis et al. Journal of Interventional Epidemiology and Public Health (ISSN: 2664-2824). This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Cite this article: Shirley Gloria Davis et al. Food product registration surveillance system evaluation at Central Region, Ghana, 2025. Journal of Interventional Epidemiology and Public Health. 2025;9(ConfProc7):0002. https://doi.org/10.37432/JIEPH-CONFPRO6-0002
Foodborne illnesses remain a global public health concern. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates 600 million cases annually, leading to 420,000 deaths worldwide. The food registration surveillance system plays a vital role in ensuring safety by providing information on food products, manufacturers, and distributors nationwide. Continuous evaluation of public health surveillance systems is crucial for enhancing food safety. The Food Product Registration (FPR) surveillance system was evaluated in the Central Region to determine if its objectives are being met, assess its attributes, and the system’s usefulness.
A descriptive cross-sectional design was used to evaluate the FPR surveillance system in the Central Region from 2020 to 2024. Adapting the CDC’s updated guidelines for evaluating public health surveillance, a semi-structured questionnaire was employed. Descriptive statistics was performed to generate frequencies, proportions and percentages on quantitative data using Ms. Excel and direct content analysis for qualitative data. Findings were summarized as texts, tables and charts.
Twenty-five stakeholders were engaged, with 64% (16) being food manufacturers. From 2020 to 2024, 97% (805/830) food products were registered within 35 to 60 days. Beverages were 55% (444/805) of registered products, with 79.2% (354/444) being water. System digitalization introduced in 2021 did not interrupt system operation with an observed 90% (27/30) data completeness. Central Region has three (3) offices across 22 districts. System was funded by the government with about 264 companies trained in Good Manufacturing Practices within the period.
The food evaluation registration surveillance system in the Central Region met its objectives and was useful. The system is simple, flexible, sensitive, stable, and acceptable with good data quality. Representativeness and timeliness were fair. The management of FDA should set up offices across the districts in the region for improved regulation.
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