FDA staff extend food safety campaign to Bosoma market

As part of their routine schedule to drum home the need for the public to adhere to safety practices, especially with regards to consumables, staff of the Food and Drugs Authority in Sunyani have been interacting with market women at the Nana Bosoma market to educate them about the safety of their foodstuff, medicines, and other consumables.

The staff, in groups of four or more, spread themselves in the market yesterday, which was the market day of Sunyani. They engaged hundreds of market women, especially those trading in food, medicines and cosmetics, among others.

The programme, dubbed “One Consumer, One Officer”, was aimed at ensuring that officers of the FDA were available, one-on-one, to interact with the public to instantly address their concerns, as regards the food they consume, medicines, cosmetics and medical devices.

The FDA officials also distributed hand-outs and flyers containing useful information about health hazards associated with smoking of cigarettes and shisha as well as general information on food safety precautions.

Speaking at the commencement of the exercise at the Bosoma market, Akua Amponsaa Owusu, the Bono Regional Head of the FDA, said her outfit periodically conducts public education exercises to educate and sensitize the public on drug and food safety and the use of tobacco and tobacco products in the country.

The Regional FDA boss said the tobacco epidemic is one of the greatest public health threats that the world has ever faced, killing more than eight million people a year. “All forms of tobacco are harmful, therefore, there is no safe level of exposure to tobacco. Cigarette smoking is one of the common forms of tobacco use worldwide. Other tobacco products include; water-pipe tobacco, various smokeless tobacco products, cigars, shisha, etc.

“Second-hand tobacco smoke is the smoke emitted from the burning end of a cigarette or from other smoked tobacco products and the smoke exhaled by the smoker. More than 4,000 chemicals have been identified in tobacco and therefore there is no safe level of exposure to second-hand tobacco smoke”, she said.

She noted that her outfit has consistently implemented the appropriate regulatory measures to ensure that the people of Ghana are protected from the harmful effects of tobacco.

Food safety

She described food safety as the practices that are observed during the handling, processing and distribution of food to ensure that contaminants that can cause foodborne illnesses are not present.

The Regional FDA boss said food safety is an important aspect of food production and handling as it ensures that the health and safety of the consumers are protected from any food related issues.

“According to the World Health Organization (WHO) report on Food Safety 2022, every year nearly 600 million people fall sick and 420,000 die globally because they consume food contaminated with bacteria, viruses, parasites, toxins, or chemicals”, she revealed.

Madam Akua Amponsaa Owusu further said an estimated three million people around the world in developed and developing countries die every year from food and waterborne diseases.

“Food is the starting point for our energy, our health, and our well-being. We often take food for granted that it is safe, but in an increasingly complex and interconnected world where food value chains are growing longer, standards and regulations are much more important in keeping us safe. Any food safety incident has global negative effects on public health, trade, and the economy”, she added.

She noted that food safety is a shared responsibility between governments, producers, and consumers, saying: “Everybody has a role to play from farm to table to ensure the food we consume is safe and will not cause damage to our health.”