By Jesse Ampah Owusu
Accra, Oct. 12, GNA – AAK, a global producer of plant-based oils and fats, has trained 22 Ghanaian chocolate and confectionery companies in product development, quality and innovation under its second Innovation Academy.
The two-day training, held at FairAfric Ghana Limited at Amanase-Suhum in the Eastern Region, covered chocolate and compound processing, tempering, tablet production, fillings and pralines, coatings, sensory evaluation, crystallisation, bloom, texture and heat stability.
Mr Anders Dahl Pedersen, AAK’s Global Application Excellence Manager for Chocolate and Confectionery, said the training focused on how ingredients, formulation and processing influenced the quality and performance of finished products.
“This is to ensure a stable quality of the end product and to have a happy consumer buying the same product every time,” he said.
He said value addition went beyond processing agricultural raw materials to building the technical capacity needed to develop and compete with higher-value products globally.
The programme also linked Ghana’s cocoa and shea value chains to higher-value food manufacturing, reflecting AAK’s broader engagement in the country’s shea sector.
Mr Michael Adusei Darlington, Operational Manager of Darling Wings Farm and a participant, said the training had broadened participants’ understanding of how to transform agricultural raw materials into competitive, higher-value products.
He urged the Government to introduce chocolate products into the diets of schoolchildren at an early age to support the development of Ghana’s cocoa value chain.
“Ghana has a strong position in the global cocoa value chain, but greater economic value can be created by strengthening the capabilities required to transform agricultural raw materials into competitive, higher-value products,” he added.
The Academy is one of four commitments AAK made under a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture to promote innovation, technical capacity development and value creation in Ghana’s agricultural and food manufacturing sectors.
Unlike the first edition, which focused mainly on industry knowledge, trends and opportunities, the second emphasised practical application.
GNA
Edited by Agnes Boye-Doe