By Anna Claudia Duker
The Director of External Health Cooperation of the Ministry of Health (MOH), Dr Hafez Adam Teher, has urged food manufacturers to prioritize hygiene practices and ensures supply of raw material from known credible sources.
According to him, food business owners must implement rigorous safety measures in their operation to promote food safety in the country.
Dr Teher said this at the commemoration of the 2024 World Food Safety Day (WFSD) on the theme ‘Food safety: prepare for the unexpected.’
Celebrated on June 7, it aimed at promoting food safety awareness and encouraged adequate steps to prevent, detect and manage foodborne risks.
The Programme was attended by World Health Organisation (WHO), Food Programme (WFP) and Food Agricultural Oranisation among others.
Dr Teher said promoting food safety in the country in the food value chain was a shared responsibility that required concerted efforts from all stakeholders and regulators, manufacturers, food business owners and consumers.
He said regulators should ensure safety through surveillance and monitoring, routine food safety campaigns, enforcements of standards and inspection to ensure compliance with safety protocols.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Food and Drugs Authourity (FDA) Mrs Delese Darko, who was represented at the meeting by Mr Roderick Daddey-Adjei, the Deputy Chief executive of FDA, Food Division said WHO estimated that 33 million lives were lost due to eating unsafe food globally each year.
She said over 200 diseases were caused by eating food contaminated with bacteria, viruses, parasites or chemical substances such as heavy metals.
‘this growing public health problem causes considerable socioeconomic impact through strains on healthcare systems, lost productivity, harming tourism and trade,’ she said.
Dr Joan Ansong, the Programme Manager of Non-Communicable Disease at the WHO, stated that globally an estimated 600 million suffer from foodborne illness annually with the highest foodborne disease burden in Africa and South East Asia.
‘In African region alone, 91 million people suffer from food borne diseases annually resulting in 137,000 annual deaths which accounts for a third of the global death toll according to WHO 2015,’ he added.
He stressed the need for a system in place to ensure that food safety information can be shared rapidly and reliably within and across national borders which facilitates learning and best food safety management practices.
The Chief of [arty of the Ghana Trade and Investment Activity (GTI), Nikaj Van Wees, said GTI had been working to support Ghana’s agricultural sector, enhancing the quality and safety of food production.
‘ over the last two years, GTI has trained about 12,000 individuals in the agricultural sector and almost 3,000 in the trade sector, this training have empowered local farmers, processors and traders with knowledge and skills necessary to uphold the highest food safety,’ he stated.
