One Signature at a Time: Our National Petition for Food Warning Labels Reaches Busoga and Bunyoro

We asked ordinary Ugandans a simple question: Do you have the right to know what is in your food? Two regions have already answered.

Should you need a science degree to buy juice for your child?

We do not think so, and neither did the people we met in marketplaces, school compounds and radio studios across two regions this quarter. That simple question is the best argument we know for what CEFROHT and the Uganda National Food Policy Coalition are fighting for: mandatory Front of Pack Warning Labelling, or FOPWL.

The idea is simple. Foods and drinks high in sugar, salt or unhealthy fat should carry a clear warning on the front of the pack, where shoppers actually look. To get there, we launched a national citizens’ petition calling on the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs and Cabinet to make those labels law. The campaign will cover four regions and 24 local governments.

Busoga started it

The drive began during Parliamentary Nutrition Week in Busoga, from 22 to 26 June 2026. Radio carried the campaign far beyond the villages we could physically reach, with talk shows on Smart FM, NBS Radio, Pallisa FM, R FM and Elgon FM explaining Uganda’s growing burden of diet-related disease and how warning labels help. Members of the Uganda Parliamentary Alliance on Nutrition and Food Security and local leaders joined the discussions and urged listeners to sign.

On the ground, our teams collected signatures from community members, learners, teachers, school administrators and local leaders across Jinja, Iganga, Mbale, Kibuku and Pallisa. Policy dialogues linked the petition to the Public Health (Amendment) Act, 2023, which gives the proposed regulation its legal foundation. Members of Parliament, the Mayor of Jinja City and local government leaders endorsed the call.

Every signature is a citizen saying: I have the right to know what I am eating

From 10 to 27 July, the petition moved to Bunyoro, reaching Hoima, Masindi, Kikuube, Kagadi, Kibaale, Buliisa and Kiryandongo. Radio Hoima, Kabalega FM and Radio Kitara opened their studios to explain FOPWL and invite listeners to sign, including online.

The region’s size meant we leaned heavily on district local governments, and they rose to it, mobilising communities ahead of our visits and supporting signature collection. Then something happened that we did not plan for. Inspired by Busoga, local government leaders in Bunyoro began their own independent petition for warning labels.

That is the moment a campaign becomes a movement. Demand for healthier food is not a Kampala concern. It is a national one.

Nobody should need technical training to understand what they are buying. And nobody can fully enjoy the right to health when unhealthy products are everywhere, heavily marketed and hard to tell apart from healthier ones. Individual choice is shaped by the food environment around us. Warning labels make the healthier choice easier, especially for children.

The signatures, photographs, and testimonies from Busoga and Bunyoro will feed into the national petition and our research on unhealthy food environments.

Add your name. Sign the FOPWL petition online, share it with your family and colleagues, or partner with us to take it to the remaining regions at info@cefroht.org.