The Cocoa Processing Company (CPC) has celebrated 2024 World Chocolate Day with pupils of the Ashaiman Cluster of Schools, with a reminder to parents to ensure that their children consume cocoa products for nutritional benefits. World Chocolate Day is celebrated globally annually on July 7 to promote the consumption of chocolate. The CPC shared chilled chocolate drinks with the pupils and educated them on the benefits of consuming chocolate products as children. Nana Agyemang Ansong, the Head of Sales and Marketing at CPC, said his outfit, which was the producer of the golden tree chocolate products, decided to celebrate the day as Ghana was a big player in the cocoa industry. Mr Ansong said one could not talk about chocolate without referring to its cocoa origin, indicating that, 'when you talk about chocolate, you must talk about the origin, which is cocoa, and Ghana is the second highest producer of cocoa. So, to celebrate such a day, we feel that the world must know the origin of chocolate.' He said thankfully, Ghana did not only produce the raw cocoa beans but was also able to process them and manufacture cocoa confectioneries such as chocolate, cocoa beverages, and chocolate spread. He indicated that celebrating such days was an opportunity for them to give the children the chance to consume cocoa-based products due to their nutritional and health benefits, which include antioxidants that aid brain development. He said that through such campaigns, they have been able to increase the consumption of cocoa from a very low level, as more Ghanaians are becoming aware of the nutritional benefits of cocoa, therefore developing an interest in its consumption. Mr Ansong stated that they were using the concept of 'catch them young' so that as the children get interested in cocoa consumption, they will grow with it and take it in its various forms. Touching on the government's policy to provide schoolchildren with chocolate beverages, he said it was a laudable project, adding that under the school feeding pro gramme, they had been serving the schoolchildren, and all the students in the over 600 senior high schools in Ghana were being given cocoa beverages in the school. He noted that as a company, they were working on bringing the basic schools on board by celebrating days like World Chocolate Day to remind them of the need to consume cocoa-based products, adding that it works well when you instill such behaviours right from childhood. Mr. Clifford Henaku Budu, the Ashaiman Municipal Education Director, commended the CPC for interacting with the children and giving them the opportunity to feel and taste the products of cocoa, especially as Ghana is a cocoa-producing company. Source: Ghana News Agency