Canned foods without pull tabs dangerous

Walk to the shelves of supermarkets in Ghana and you may be surprised at the overwhelming numbers of both imported and locally manufactured canned food products on sale.

These products range from dairy, fruits, protein, grains and vegetables.

The often affordable products offer convenience, especially when you want to prepare a quick meal.

In addition to that, they have long shelf life and can easily be stored in the pantry.

Canned foods have nice-looking packaging designs which attract, but many of these products do not have pull tabs.

Pull tabs save time and make it easier to open a canned product. At home, school and work, we often consume canned foods to save ourselves some stress.

However, the use of some of them become complicated without pull tabs.

I don’t want to believe that Food Processing companies are only interested in making money and are not concerned about the safety of consumers.

What is more worrying is that one is likely to get hurt in the process of opening a canned product with a sharp tool such as a knife.

The packaging of protein products, especially corned beef, should be upgraded from the rather archaic key opener to an easy pull tab.

It is stressful opening corned beef when the key is misplaced.

The world has evolved, and food processing companies cannot rely on the same packaging they have relied on for decades. They should add a bit of innovation and prioritise the safety of their consumers.

Canned food markets across must ensure customer satisfaction by providing safe packaging with easy pull-tabs.

Afia Agyapomaa Ofosu, Journalist. E-mail: prissyof@yahoo.com