World Chocolate Day Commemorated
This year’s World Chocolate Day has been commemorated in Tema with a call on parents to allow children to consume more chocolate and cocoa-based products due to its health benefits.
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The Head of Sales and Marketing at Cocoa Processing Company (CPC) Limited, Nana Agyemang Ansong, said children could derive nutritional and health benefits for their wellness from the regular intake of chocolate.
He made the call when the management of the CPC interacted with learners at Oninku Drive and Mante Din Basic schools in Tema in the Greater Accra Region yesterday, as part of activities to commemorate the day.
Both learners and teachers in the schools sampled one of the flagship products of the company, the Golden Tree Alltime Instant Drinking Chocolate.
The day which is celebrated on July 7 each year was started in 2009 to commemorate the introduction of chocolate to Europe in 1550.
Importance
Mr Ansong said that the activities were ways to inculcate the consumption of chocolate and cocoa-based products among children, and to also educate them on its health benefits.
He said the country's position as the world's second largest cocoa producer after Côte d'Ivoire was significant and that more efforts must be made to increase the consumption of the product.
“We targeted the children because cocoa is very good for the cognitive development of the child and we thought we should catch them young so that we can increase the consumption of chocolate products from an early age for its health benefits,” Mr Ansong added.
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He said chocolate consumption in the country was estimated at only 0.6 kg per person per year, and that his outfit was working towards reaching a target of 1kg per person per year.
Benefits
A Marketing Research Officer at CPC, Maxwell Aboagye, also said that chocolate consumption offered some benefits because of its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, and therefore, encouraged the public to consume more cocoa products, especially the locally manufactured chocolate.
Writer’s email: Benjamin.glover@graphic.com.gh
