We must be cautious of what we eat

10/15/07
We must be cautious of what we eat
Article: Salome Donkor
Food is an important component of life and as such should be handled properly for it to be safe for consumption. Most people in the cities who find themselves outside their homes for a greater part of the day due to their work schedule have no option than to patronise the services of cooked food sellers.
It is necessary for food vendors to avoid unhealthy practices and work under hygienic conditions to safeguard the lives of customers.
Unfortunately some food vendors in the Accra metropolis, including chop bar operators, bread and vegetable sellers, transact their businesses near open drains, refuse dumps and public places of convenience. The rubbish and its foul odour and flies contaminate the cooked food, most of which are not covered, posing health risk to customers, who do not care patronising the services of such facilities.
The Dean of the Faculty of Engineering Science at the University of Ghana, Prof. Samuel Sefa-Dedeh, was recently reported to have said that the food supply chain, from harvesting, transportation, processing and delivery, demonstrated that Ghanaians were exposed to heavily contaminated food.
That situation made him call for a review of the Food and Drugs Law in order to safeguard food and adequately protect consumers in the country. This was when he was delivering a lecture on the topic: “The Food Supply Chain, Safeguarding Public Health and Safety”, organised by the Food and Drugs Board (FDB), as part of activities marking its 10th anniversary celebrations.
Issues related to food safety and regulations require the regulators to effectively implement it, while operators in the hospitality industry need to learn to operate under a conducive environment and reorganise their operations to promote food safety and good health.
To educate commercial and street food vendors on the need to operate under hygienic surroundings, the Tourism Ministry recently organised a workshop to sensitise over 1,500 food vendors to food safety, hygiene, environmental sanitation, drugs law, business management, capacity building and tax education.
The programme formed part of a nation-wide compering??????? instituted by the ministry to educate the participants, who included 'koko', rice and kenkey sellers, chop bar keepers, confectioners and restaurant operators on the need to operate under hygienic surroundings as a way of promoting tourism.
The Environment Health Officer of the Akwapem South District, Mr Christopher Asubonteng, was reported to have cautioned the public against buying uncovered food items, since they posed health hazards.
He cited the selling of uncovered bread and fried turkey tails and yams at Nsawam as an example, and asked the public to patronise only covered food items to guard against contracting diseases.
Laws regulating food safety and security have been enacted so they should be enforced to ensure that anybody handling food has adequate knowledge in food handling and preparation as required by the law.
Walking through the city in the central business district, one comes face to face with several women who have set up tables at vantage points, selling a variety of food for the public near open drains and mounds of household refuse. One also sees hawkers who move on the streets selling uncovered bread, dough nuts, cakes, all exposed to the sun.One could also speak of kenkey, fresh and smoked fish and meat sellers.
The Environmental Health Division of the Ministry of Health needs to step up it monitoring efforts to ensure food security. The mode of dressing of these vendors and the environment within which they operate is of paramount importance.
Periodic checks will go a long way to help raise the health consciousness among food vendors to take their health issues seriously and to make them aware of how their actions can impact positively or negatively on the lives of the people they serve.
For this reason Environmental Health Officers have carried out periodic screening for food vendors and drinking bar operators who have undergone free medical screening to ascertain their health status before offering their services to the public.
The exercise ensures that all those who sell food to the public are free from infectious and contagious diseases while the food they offer for sale meet the required standards.
Talking to the Daily Graphic after a screening exercise for about 300 food vendors in the Shama Ahanta East Metropolitan Assembly, a Principal Environmental Health Officer, Mr Gyesi Nkansah, reportedly gave an important advise to consumers. He said "You should consider the environment the food is prepared; you should not only eat because you are hungry, but consider your health as well."
There are some butchers who process their slaughtered animals with used lorry tyres at unauthorised places in Accra and the Environmental Health Officers of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly have sent a number of them to court.
     That was because advice, notices, education and several warnings to them to stop using lorry tyres since it is injurious and dangerous to human consumption, and rather use firewood or gas to burn slaughtered animals have not been heeded.
    According to them the continuous use of the lorry tyres to burn the animals is causing smoke, nuisance and environmental pollution to residents in the area, hence their arrest and prosecution.
Truly, matters of food safety are a collective responsibility of all since the regulating agencies alone cannot ensure food safety.
We should take the advise by the Environmental Health Officer seriously by considering the environment the food is prepared. We should not only eat because we are hungry but consider our health as well.