Austin, Texas-based ePac Flexible Packaging partnered with local authorities in Ghana, Africa, to conduct a seminar entitled: “Building Capacity in Flexible Packaging to Enhance Food Safety and Quality for MSMEs in the Africa Free Trade Area.”
Drawing over 100 attendees, the workshop was conducted on March 16-17 and was the result of a partnership between ePac Ghana, the Ghana Food and Drug Authority, Ghana Standards Authority and Ecobank Ghana. Its focus was to educate regulators to be able to serve local brands on the role packaging plays in food safety and commercialization.
Participants at the workshop included regulators, the Consumer Protection Agency, Ghana Enterprises Agency, Ghana Standards Authority, Academia, Ghana Export Promotion and officials from the Food and Drugs Authority.
At the conference, Delese Darko, CEO of the Food and Drugs Authority, charged micro, small and medium scale enterprises to ensure high standards in packaging are met for their products to be competitive. She said packaging had been the major limitation for entrepreneurs in Ghana.
The workshop introduced the latest international standards in food packaging and safety to the FDA and the GSA to fully equip them to support local brand owners and consumers.
EPac Ghana was commended by Darko in its position to strengthen SMEs capacity in flexible packaging to promote safe handling, storage and transportation of products.
Velda Sosah, chief financial officer of ePac Ghana, said the limited availability of packaging solutions, which met both local and international market requirements, presented a challenge for Made in Ghana products.
“This also limits producers’ ability to enhance product quality to meet the standards of the increasingly discerning consumer, which has resulted in an increase in imported products,” Sosah said.
Founded in 2016 with a mission to help small and medium-sized companies grow and compete with larger brands, ePac has 23 locations across the U.S., Canada, Europe, Africa and the Asia Pacific region. EPac is 100 percent digital and built on digital printing and workflow technologies, providing fast time to market and low minimum orders.
For more information, visit epacflexibles.com.
