Adhere to food safety standards to protect public – Dr Sasu
The Risk Communication Officer of the Veterinary Services Directorate (VSD), Dr Benjamin Sasu, has called on actors along the food value chain to adhere to food safety standards and best practices to prevent foodborne diseases and protect public health.
“Food safety is everyone’s business. It involves farmers who rear animals or cultivate crops, transporters, slaughter facilities, processing plants, market women, retailers, supermarkets, chop bars, restaurants and families at home,” he said.
“Each person in the value chain has a responsibility to ensure that food is safe for consumption before it is eaten. We must all help provide solutions to the food safety challenges confronting us,” he added.
Dr Sasu made the call in an exclusive interview with the Ghanaian Times in Accra on Friday to mark this year’s World Food Safety Month on the theme: ‘From Burden to Solutions – Safe Food Everywhere.’
The theme highlights how data on illness, disease burden and lives lost could be used to guide practical and cost-effective interventions to reduce foodborne diseases.
Presently, estimates by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), indicates that approximately 420,000 Ghanaians fall ill from contaminated food each year, with the majority of cases linked to poor food hygiene practices and activities within the informal food sector.
Data from the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) also show that between 2013 and 2021, more than 1,914 people suffered various forms of food poisoning in Ghana, resulting in 36 deaths.
Dr Sasu noted that although Ghana had a National Food Safety Policy to coordinate food safety regulation among relevant institutions, more efforts were needed to strengthen food safety systems across the country.
He underscored the critical role the VSD played in ensuring food safety through the training of farmers on biosecurity measures, provision of veterinary services and laboratory diagnostics, inspection of animals and animal products, and the licensing of slaughter and poultry processing facilities.
Dr Sasu while calling for increased support to the Directorate to deliver on its mandate also urged food vendors and handlers to maintain clean environments, use safe water, disinfect equipment regularly and adhere strictly to established food safety standards.
He advised consumers to be more conscious of what they eat and observe good food hygiene practices, including regular handwashing, thorough cooking of meat and other animal products, proper food storage and the use of clean water during food preparation to reduce the incidence of foodborne diseases and protect their health.
BY ABIGAIL ANNOH
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