The Ghana National Egg Campaign Secretariat (GNECS) has supported the first ever Regional Cooking Competition in Accra with crates of egg.
Apart from the eggs, GNECS also provided the winners with sets of cooking utensils and other reward packages. the gesture forms part of activities to mark the 25th anniversary of the World Egg Day which was celebrated on October 8, 2021.
The competition which was organized to support survivors of mental health challenges was done in partnership with the Wilmar Africa distributors of Frytol oil and Fortune rice, laVonce tomato paste, among others. The contestants for the cocking competition were beauty queens from the TV3 Ghana’s Most Beautiful pageant. The queens were drawn from 2007 when GMB started.
At the end of the contest, Central region was crowned champions in the egg cooking competition. Greater Accra and Ashanti region won the second and third position respectively.
Some of the egg dishes prepared by the beauty queens include egg pizza, egg mportormportor, egg salad, egg eto among others.
Madam Comfort Kyerewa Acheampong, Coordinator of the GNECS, who made the presentation, emphasized the importance of eating eggs regularly improve one’s health.
She said egg was complete food that can keep the one full and it is especially good for people who wants to lose weight.
Kwabena Kusi, a Public Health Specialist with the Ghana Health Service recounted several benefits of eggs. He explained that egg contain choline and other unique antioxidants and powerful brain nutrients that many people are deficient in.
Eggs also contain small amounts of almost every vitamin and mineral required by the human body, including calcium, iron, potassium, zinc, manganese, vitamin E, folate and many more,” he emphasized.
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As we age its normal for our vision to start to deteriorate but there are some useful nutrients, obtained from a balanced diet, which may help support eye health. Eggs are one example of an eye-friendly food.” He noted.
The yolk contains large amounts of carotenes, of particular note are lutein and zeaxanthin, which are important for preventing macular degeneration and cataracts. Eggs are also a source of vitamin A which is key for good eye sight.
He mentioned that eating eggs regularly also helps in hair growth and the improvement in blood circulation.
Ghana National Egg Campaign Secretariat (GNECS) was established when the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the American Soy bean Association (ASA) funded project-AMPLIFIES came to a close in 2019.
The stakeholders in the Poultry Value Chain decided to continue the National Eggs campaign that was started by AMPLIFIES. This saw the birth of GNECS which is being governed by representation from 13 stakeholder groups.
GNECS aims to expand the trade in eggs, create awareness through myth busting and education on the benefits eggs and encourage the consumption of eggs