FAO, FG, SON Seek Immediate Action On Food Safety
Multiple relevant stakeholders in the health sector such as the Federal Government, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), and the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) are seeking urgent action to help prevent, detect, and also manage food-borne risk.
According to the stakeholders, addressing issues around food safety would contribute to economic prosperity, agricultural production, market access, tourism and sustainable development.
The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, Engr Adebiyi Afolabi, said this speaking at the commemoration of the World Food Safety Day in Abuja.
He explained that food safety has a critical role in ensuring that what people eat stays safe at every stage of the chain, from production and harvest to processing and storage, as well as preparation and consumption.
Afolabi, who was represented by the Director of Pharmaceutical Services, Food, and Drugs, Pharm Joseph Ologun, reiterated the need for Nigeria to do whatever it takes to improve food safety practices and standards in a way that ensures the reduction or elimination of food-borne diseases and illnesses in the country.
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“As we know, food standards are a way of ensuring food safety and quality by providing guidance on hygienic food handling for farmers and processors. Standards also specify how the food should be measured, packaged and transported.
“Food safety is the absence of hazards in food that will harm the health of consumers, so food safety has a critical role in ensuring that food stays safe at every stage of the food chain, from production to harvest to processing, storage all the way to preparation and consumption,” he said.
The FAO Country Representative for Nigeria and ECOWAS, Fred Kafeero, said the celebration aims to draw attention and inspire action to help prevent, detect and manage food-borne risk and contribute to food security, human health, economic prosperity, agricultural production, market access, tourism and sustainable development.
Kafeero who was represented by the Country Team Leader for FAO’s Emergency Centre for Transboundary Animal Diseases (ECTAD), Otto Muhinda, noted that the World Food Safety Day was established in 2018 by the United Nations General Assembly to support initiatives around the world in healthcare of affected individuals by these non-communicable diseases.
Also, the Director-General of Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Mallam Farouk Salim, who was represented by Yunusa Mohammed, said food standards provide minimum requirements for protecting consumers from food borne illness, contamination and fraudulent practices by adhering to the quality and safety requirements as prescribed in the Nigeria regulation standards for food.
“We will minimise risk and foster public confidence in the safety and quality of food purchase and consumption nationwide.”
