Improving Child Nutrition through Quality Certification of Infant Foods: Scoping Study for a Randomized Trial in Ghana

Abstract

This scoping study aims to lay a foundation for the introduction and randomized trial of third-party quality certification of infant foods in Ghana. The products whose quality would be certified are the cereal-based complementary foods recommended for infants between 6 and 24 months of age, when healthy growth requires foods of exceptionally high nutrient density and digestibility. These specialized infant foods are needed from the time when the child’s needs outpace the nutrients available in breast milk, to the time when the child can digest sufficient quantities of more commonly-available foods. This scoping study is intended to provide both the motivation for introducing a new infant-foods quality certification program in Ghana, and the design for how to do so in a way that would provide state-of-the-art data on its impact on household purchases and child health