Ghana: FDA food import refusals, 2020–2025
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Ghana was the origin of 81 of 22,156 US food import refusals in 2020–2025 (0.4%), ranking 45th of 146 origins. 56% were hazard findings and 44% paperwork alone. 30% concerned nuts and edible seeds; the most-cited safety charge was Salmonella, and the most-cited paperwork charge nutrition labeling.
Every US food import refusal naming Ghana as origin, 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2025. A refusal is one import entry, however many product lines it carried. Download every table (CSV).
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By year
| Year | Refusals | Share of US total | Rank among origins |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 7 | 0.3% | 51 |
| 2021 | 13 | 0.4% | 38 |
| 2022 | 7 | 0.2% | 56 |
| 2023 | 6 | 0.2% | 57 |
| 2024 | 27 | 0.7% | 31 |
| 2025 | 21 | 0.4% | 43 |
| 2020–2025 | 81 | 0.4% | 45 |
Year links open that year's refusals, entry by entry.
Tables below show each year 2020–2025; cells are shaded against their row's own peak. Change compares 2025 with 2020 and is shown only where 2020 had at least 10 refusals ("new" where it had none).
Hazard or paperwork
A refusal is a hazard finding when any of its charges is a safety one — filth, pathogens, residues, contaminants, unsafe additives — and paperwork when every charge is labelling, registration or a missing filing. One citing only charge codes FDA has not published is unclassified.
| Year | Hazard findings | Paperwork only | Unclassified | Hazard share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 42.9% |
| 2021 | 4 | 9 | 0 | 30.8% |
| 2022 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 71.4% |
| 2023 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 33.3% |
| 2024 | 12 | 15 | 0 | 44.4% |
| 2025 | 19 | 2 | 0 | 90.5% |
| 2020–2025 | 45 | 36 | 0 | 55.6% |
By industry
| FDA industry | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2020–2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nuts and Edible Seeds rates → Groundnut · Other-nuts |
2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 11 | 24 (29.6%) | — |
| Vitamins, Minerals, Proteins, and Unconventional Dietary Specialties for Humans | 2 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 11 (13.6%) | — |
| Spices, Flavors, and Salts | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 8 (9.9%) | — |
| Fishery/Seafood Products rates → Fish-other |
0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 7 (8.6%) | — |
| Soft Drinks and Waters | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 7 (8.6%) | — |
| Vegetable Oils (Includes Olive Oil) rates → | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 6 (7.4%) | — |
| Vegetables and Vegetable Products | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 (7.4%) | — |
| Whole Grains, Milled Grain Products, and Starch rates → Grains-starch-other · Maize-corn · Rice · Wheat |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 (4.9%) | — |
| Fruit and Fruit Products | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 (3.7%) | — |
| Alcoholic Beverages | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 (2.5%) | — |
| Bakery Products, Doughs, Bakery Mixes, and Icings | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 (1.2%) | — |
| Candy Without Chocolate, Candy Specialties, and Chewing Gum | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 (1.2%) | — |
| Cereal Preparations, Breakfast Foods | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 (1.2%) | new |
By charge group
A refusal citing charges in two groups counts once in each, so rows can add up to more than the total.
| Charge group | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2020–2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labelling (paperwork) | 3 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 15 | 8 | 39 (48.1%) | — |
| Salmonella (hazard) | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 9 | 10 | 24 (29.6%) | — |
| Process and registration (paperwork) | 0 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 3 | 19 (23.5%) | — |
| Unsafe additives (hazard) | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 9 (11.1%) | — |
| Filth and insanitary conditions (hazard) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 8 (9.9%) | — |
| Mycotoxins (hazard) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 (3.7%) | — |
| Undeclared allergens (hazard) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 (1.2%) | — |
| Pesticide residues (hazard) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 (1.2%) | — |
| Other charges (no group) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 (1.2%) | — |
Most-cited charges
FDA's own charge codes, with a plain-English label. Each is counted once per refusal.
Safety charges
| Charge | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2020–2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Salmonella SALMONELLA |
1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 9 | 10 | 24 | — |
unsafe color additive UNSAFE COL |
0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 7 | — |
filth FILTHY |
0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 6 | — |
insanitary conditions INSANITARY |
1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | — |
mycotoxin MYCOTOXIN |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | new |
unsafe food additive UNSAFE ADD |
0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | — |
aflatoxin AFLATOXIN |
1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | — |
undeclared allergen ALLERGEN |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | — |
pesticide residue PESTICIDE |
0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | — |
Paperwork charges
| Charge | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2020–2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
nutrition labeling NUTRIT LBL |
2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 9 | 7 | 24 | — |
no net quantity LACKS N/C |
1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 5 | 18 | — |
unapproved new drug UNAPPROVED |
0 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 13 | — |
no common name USUAL NAME |
1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 3 | 13 | — |
ingredients not listed LIST INGRE |
0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 11 | — |
no manufacturer name LACKS FIRM |
0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 9 | — |
color not declared COLOR LBLG |
0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 5 | — |
labeling LABELING |
0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | — |
supplement labeling DIETARYLBL |
2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | — |
not in English NO ENGLISH |
0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | — |
By month
Pooled across 2020–2025. Each row is shaded against its own peak, so its season shows whatever its size. Hazard findings peak in June; Paperwork only peak in March.
Hazard or paperwork
| Kind | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Peak |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hazard findings | 5 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 4 | June |
| Paperwork only | 4 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | March |
By charge group
| Charge group | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Peak |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labelling | 5 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 2 | January |
| Salmonella | 2 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 2 | October |
| Process and registration | 3 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 2 | March |
| Unsafe additives | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | January |
| Filth and insanitary conditions | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | June |
Import divisions
The FDA division that handled the entry. DSWI and DNBI are the Mexican and Canadian land borders, so this says as much about the route as about the product.
| Division | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2020–2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DNEI — Northeast | 6 | 13 | 5 | 4 | 25 | 19 | 72 | — |
| DSEI — Southeast | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 7 | — |
| DSWI — Southwest, the Mexican land border | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | — |
| DWCI — West Coast | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | new |
Method
- Source: FDA Import Refusal Report (U.S. Food and Drug Administration); every food import refusal dated 2020–2025.
- Counts are import entries, not product lines. A refusal naming several origins counts once for each, so origin shares can add up to more than 100%.
- Charge groups are this site's grouping of FDA's charge codes; a code belongs to the first group that claims it, the same rule as the hazard pages.
- A charge is what FDA cited to refuse the entry, often on appearance or documents rather than a laboratory result. Counts depend on how often each product is examined, so they are not a rate of unsafe food.
- Licence: CC-BY-4.0. Cite as "Ghana: FDA food import refusals, 2020–2025", fruit-risk.com, 2026-09-20, https://fdair.fruit-risk.com/reports/ghana.html.
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