The Director of the Inspectorate Directorate of the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA), Mr Kwasi Owusu Boadu, said product packaging was key in attracting local and international markets.

According to him, one of the major factors negatively affecting Ghanaian businesses was how products were packaged.

Speaking to the Daily Graphic after the opening ceremony of a one-day workshop on standards and labelling requirements, Mr Boadu said: “Proper labelling and packaging of products increases their penetration into major supermarkets both locally and internationally.”

“The more Ghana’s products hit the international market, the more the economy is expanded,”Mr Boadu said.

He said product quality depended on the standards that are set for them and assured the public that the GSA would continue to liaise with stakeholders to ensure product quality always.

Workshop

The workshop on standards, certification and labelling requirements, was organised by the GSA and the GS1, a barcode issuing company, to sensitise modern retail shops, manufacturers and printers to the major issues of standardisation, certification and labelling in order to improve compliance.

Mr Boadu said the workshop was organised for manufacturers, retailers and consumers, to promote the production and packaging of quality products in the country.

He added that the workshop was also to help equip the participants on how to meet standards.

He said one of the main challenges of some manufacturers in the country was meeting requirements under barcode scanning.

Mr Boadu stressed that it was important for manufacturers to take barcode scanning seriously since failure to affix quality barcodes to products would lead to products being precluded on the international market.

He said one of the issues to be discussed at the workshop, therefore, was the effective fixing of barcodes.

Trade

The Chief Executive Officer of GS1, Mr Kofi M. Essuman, speaking to the Daily Graphic, stressed that the country relied on trade for economic growth.

“To be able to compete effectively, you need to conform to consumers’ needs. Customers’ wants and requirements are usually captured as a standard,” Mr Essuman explained.

He said the essence of the workshop was to train manufacturers, retailers and shop keepers on quality packaging of goods in order to meet the needs of the market.

Mr Essuman indicated that small-scale manufacturers usually found it difficult to put their products in shops because of poor packaging.

We hope the workshop would tackle issues surrounding poor packaging so manufacturers and retailers can reap the utmost benefit from the sale of their products,” Mr Essuman said.

He also stressed the need for affixing of barcodes to products.

Mr Essuman said the adoption of the use of barcodes on products in Ghana had increased tremendously within the past five years.

“Barcodes should be of a certain quality. We hope the quality of barcodes will continue to improve over the next couple of years to enhance penetration of Ghanaian products on the international market,” he added.