By Merit Ibe
Stakeholders have called on consumers, manufacturers, producers and all other relevant stakeholders of goods and services to adhere strictly to food safety to reduce to barest minimum or totally eradicate incidences of food borne diseases in the state.
They made the call at the 2nd edition of Food Safety Conference and Exhibition, organised by Lagos State Consumer Protection Agency (LASCOPA), with the theme; “Safer food, Better health.”
General Manager, LASCOPA, Afolabi Solebo ESQ, emphasised that ensuring food safety, otherwise known as food hygiene is considered important and taken with uttermost tenacity by the agency, considering the ripple effects which unhealthy and unwholesome foods items can cause to the human body, which could sometimes lead to death. Solebo said the agency makes efforts to regularly visit grocery stores and supermarkets to enforce compliance with operational guidelines.
“With the theme for this years food safety conference and exhibition it behoves on concerned stakeholders in reiterating that safe food is one of the most critical guarantors for good health as unsafe foods contribute to other poor health conditions such as impaired growth and development, micro-nutrient deficiencies, non communicable or communicable diseases and mental illness. “The fact that one in 10 people globally are affected by food borne disease annually, makes it indispensable to transform food systems to deliver better health in a sustainable manner to prevent most food borne diseases.
He urged all manufacturers, retailers and everyone involved in food production, processing and supply to allow standard food safety procedure in order to achieve a zero-risk food supply in Lagos State.
The key not speaker, Prof. Folake Henshaw, Country Ambassador, Global Harmonisation Initiative (GHI) noted that the recommendation for safe food is for everyone, as we all consume food. She said the first thing about ensuring food safety is the role of government. “We need to have a proper food control system for proper governance of food to ensure safety in our food supply chain.
That is where we should begin. We all need the knowledge to know that our food must be safe for us to be healthy. If the food is not safe, its going to make you sick and its no longer food. We need to know the importance of safe food to good health. We need to only purchase safe food from safe sources and food vendors, must know their responsibility to provide safe food for the public consumption and complying with safety practices and moving away from unsafe practices. Everybody has a role to play. The main recommendation is that government needs to be intentional and invest in the governance of our safe system. Its not only going to affect the public health but also the economy. Its already affecting our economy. For example we need safe food if we must export. because nobody will buy unsafe food from us. From the entire chain, from the farm to the time of consumption, the different actors must, stakeholders must play their roles so that we have a safe food at the end of the day. If food is not safe, it affects the public health, which has its own cost. Cost to productivity, cost to health care and lose of working hours.
Mr Ifem Francis Murumba, Managing Director, FMCBOGIA Foods Consultant, explained that the consumer can be termed as the end-user of the goods or services.
He defined consumer health as a social movement which preserves the right and strength of the consumer. Consumer health encourages seller and merchant to protect health of consumer by providing quality product and services. It is considered with selection of products and services.
“Consumers health pertains to health aspects of wise decision to purchase of healthy products and services and the use, in order to obtain the ultimate satisfaction of wellness of the body.
He said street food are defined by the Food and Agricultural Organization as ‘ready-to-eat foods and beverages prepared and/or sold by vendors, especially in streets and other similar public places, saying the general condition of body and mind in poor health is evident or is a measure of what we consume, here mainly from street food.
He called on governments at all levels
He revealed that Approximately in about 600 million people in the world, one out of every 10 people get sick and about 420,000 deaths results from food borne illnesses annually and street food accounts for a very high percentage of this number.
Points of Sales, Preparation, and many other risks of Bacteria, Virus, Pesticide Residues, Heavy Metal, Dust and Smoke contaminations have labelled street food and therefore all hands must e on deck to help sanitize street food including NGOs and food related bodies like NIFST. The Federal, State, and Local Council, will come with legislation while other partners will come with advocacy
He commended the Lagos state government for proactive step in establishing this LASCOPA but has to seek more collaborations with federal and non governmental organization to bring sanity to street food sector.
he added that there is no disputing the fact that street food has become part of of lagosian cultural fabrics in particular and Nigeria in general, it serves as important economic opportunities and affordable food services, it has a lot of attendant health problems. There is need for training and education programs to improve Food Safety knowledge and Practice among street food vendors
Basic infrastructure and services like clean water, proper sanitation and waste disposal facilities should be provided for street food vendors . better practice of food safety and hygiene regulation
Mr Harrison Anani, AGM, Research Development Ajinomoto Foods Nigeria Ltds, spoke on Food additives and allergies: What consumers need to know. He said food additives are safe to eat. But the trick laws must be followed. he emphasised additivesthe difference between additives and allergies.
Allergies occurs when the body reacts to specific food, warned manufacturers to be acre when producing foods for. tasked consumers to always check labels and accertain the content of foods which their systems are allergic to and avoid them for to live healthy. Always read the packaged food for allergy information. The role of consumers and the role of manufacturers in managing food allergies. Be careful while eating out. Allergy management and control.
Manufacturers ensure that food without allergies are produced first.