Accra Oct 29, - The Food and
Drugs Authority (FDA) in collaboration with the Accra Metropolitan Assembly
(AMA) and Zoomlion Ghana mobilised authorities to clean Agbogbloshie market in
their campaign to keeping Ghana clean.
The clean-up exercise and market
durbar formed part of activities of the First Food Safety Conference being
organised by the FDA to develop strategies to counter emerging challenges in
food chain and to promote safe food practices among Ghanaians.
Mrs Delese Darko, the Chief
Executive Officer of the FDA expressed concerns on the way and manner most food
vendors served and preserved their food stuffs, adding that most food stuffs
are not preserved in the right way and process making it unhealthy for human
consumption.
She stated that exposure of
produce to unfavourable storage conditions, poor hygiene practices and
conditions in the markets and food adulteration of food are some of the
challenges faced in Ghana.
She said the challenges were a
threat to food security and food safety in Ghana, saying “1856.56 metric tonnes
of pre-packaged food was destroyed in 2016 due to poor storage practices.”
She said food fraud alone was estimated
to cost consumers up to $40
billion dollars globally and the food industry $10-15 billion per year.
Mrs Darko said increase in demand
for semi processed foods in Ghana had led to the emergence of various types of
food products on the market.
This consequently, she said had
resulted in an increase level of deception by people in the food sector for financial
gains.
“Although most food fraud
practices occur unnoticed, the FDA in line with its mandate to protect public
health and safety has carried out several investigations into activities of
food fraud in recent times.’’, she said.
She assured Ghanaians that the
FDA would be there to teach them on how to live a healthy life.
Reverend Chris J. E. Y. Gawugbe,
the Environmental Health Officer of the AMA thanked the FDA for the laudable
opportunity and also urged Ghanaians to adhere to good sanitation practices.
He expressed shock on how some
fish sellers displayed their wares on the ground and sell closer to gutters.
He cautioned them that it is not
allowed to display food stuffs below three feet on the floor.
“We must be held responsible for
our cleanliness on where we sell, because when you kill the individual slowly
your sales also dwindles.’’, he added.
Tony Asare, a participant of the
clean-up exercise commended the FDA and its collaborating partners for the
exercise and urged the sanitation agencies to continuously aid them in cleaning
the market.
Mr Korley Dudor, the Assembly Man
of the Agbogloshie Community tasked them to keep a cleaner environment to
attract more buyers.
The AMA urged the Contractors responsible
for collecting and disposing off refuse to also work efficiently by maintaining
a healthy environment.
GNA
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