Let’s Have A Good Food Logo

Lusaka June, 2025 – FOOD processing companies must work with nutritionists to produce less harmful and healthy foods, says Nutritionist Belinda Tembo.

Speaking on a Radio Phoniex interview recently, Ms. Tembo said most ultra-processed foods had a lot of ingredients meant to keep the foods fresh and tasty but when consumed by humans, these foods are in the long run harmful to the Zambians.

 

The nutritionist urged companies that are producing healthy foods to support her in advocating for a ‘Good Food Logo’ where a ‘Healthy Food’ marking can be placed on products deemed by nutritionists to be healthier and ideal for Zambians to eat. This will be to differentiate them from ultra-processed foods and other harmful foods that need moderation.

“Consumers have a right to choose between healthy foods and those ultra-processed foods that might look and taste nice but at are not ideal for them.”

She added, “Manufacturers should make their labels legible so people can read and understand the ingredients contained in the foods. However, the more you don’t understand the ingredients in there, the danger these ingredients could be harmful to your body.”

She said by adopting a healthy food logo, consumers that require to be on a healthy diet can look for this logo and buy only foods that have been certified by nutritionist as healthy.

She said on average, a Zambia must consume daily about half of their food intake being carbohydrates, 10-15 percent protein and the rest can be fat.

Ms Tembo said Zambians must choose foods that contain fibre as humans need more fibre in their diet to prevent refined sugars being quickly absorbed into their blood streams.

“We are consuming way too much refined sugars and unfortunately most people do not know this is way too harmful.”
Ms. Tembo lamented the fact that more and more Zambians in their prime of their lives and careers are now dogged by healthy complications resulting from the bad food choices based on what they buy.

“We are in a country where-by age 40 people are being hypertensive or stroke or diabetic and are developing all kinds of non-communicable diseases and health complications because of the bad foods they have been subjected too.” Said Ms. Tembo.

She said manufacturers are placing more salt and more sugars and more preservatives to ensure that their foods have a longer shelf life by staying as long as they need to be on the market shelves without going bad.

Ms. Tembo continued, “We know for the manufacturer they are driven by profit margins and desire to have their foods stay as long as they can on the shelves without getting bad but as nutritionists we are saying let’s also consider the health status of the consumers.”

Ms Tembo said even children and infants were not spared from the allure and dangers of ultra-processed foods with many parents packing in the children’s school packs harmful processed drinks and foods.

“The school system must help educate children on the need for children to be fed vegetables and simple health foods to protect their developing bodies from harmful modern foods. How we eat today really is depended on how we have been eating in the past.” she said.

She appealed to manufacturers of the ultra-processed food to work with nutritionists to improve on their products so they can do away completely with additives and processes that turn their foods into harmful foods.

She said it would be difficult to place a ‘Good Food’ logo on ultra-processed products because they contain a lot of harmful ingredients that are now being hidden in too much salt or sugars to make them tasteful.

Zambia’s so called middle income class and the educated are the largest consumers of processed foods.

“Unfortunately, if we are losing people at the age of 40 and 50, continuity becomes a problem and this is harming the country’s economic growth and affecting the country health. This is why I am taking this campaign, called Way To Eat,” Ms. Tembo said.