FDA educates caterers, vendors on food hygiene
The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA), as part of national intervention measures to manage the outbreak of cholera, yesterday organised a sensitisation workshop for traditional caterers (TC), food vendors at lorry stations and consumers in some selected communities in the Adentan Municipality. The communities included: Danfa, Madina and Ayi Mensah.
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The workshop, facilitated by food security experts from the Adentan Town Council, brought together about 100 traditional caterers who were schooled on food hygiene.
Addressing the participants in the opening session of the workshop, the Head of Public Education of the FDA, Mr Edward Archer, said the exercise would be ongoing and replicated in all municipalities until tremendous strides were made at reducing the occurrence of the cholera.
He also said traditional caterers and food vendors highly contributed to the health of consumers because good health basically depended on what was eaten and, therefore, they needed to be a major target in such an exercise.
Food safety
Mr Archer said traditional caterers needed to imbibe the habit of proper hand washing with soap and running water before cooking and serving food, after visiting the toilet. They should avoid the habit of picking their noses and touching their hair or any part of their bodies while selling.
He pointed out that a hand sanitizer, no matter its potency, could not replace the proper washing of hands, and described hand washing as the most ideal way of cleaning the hands.
“The sanitizer becomes an option only when there is no access to clean water and soap,” he added.
Mr Archer said even in the absence of tap water, water in a clean container could be poured onto the hands with the help of another person.
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“Utensils, if possible, should be washed with warm water or potable water before and after use to avoid food contamination,” he advised.
Safe temperature
Mr Archer said germs multiplied quickly in cooked foods kept under room temperature and, therefore, advised that cooked food must be kept in cold temperatures.
“Cold temperatures slow down the growth rate of germs so food, especially leftovers, must be heated, cooled and stored in cold temperatures immediately,” he added.
He called on all caterers to use disposable cutlery to minimise the spread of diseases.
Advice to consumers
In his remarks, the Principal Regulatory Officer of the FDA, Mr Kofi Essel, asked consumers to ensure that they bought food from hygienic surroundings and vendors who covered their food properly, dressed neatly and covered their hair.
Writer’s email: doreen.andoh@graphic.com.gh