The 2015 World Health Day with the theme ‘Food Safety’ held globally on April 7. In Nigeria, while coalition of rights groups marked the day by decrying poor nutritional status of Nigerians, agencies saddled with the responsibility of ensuring food safety and quality standard outline their role in ensuring that products processed in Nigeria meet international standards. Senior Correspondent, ONYEWUCHI OJINNAKA, writes.
This year’s World Health Day 2015, marked on Tuesday, April 7, was an occasion to alert people working in different government sectors, farmers, manufacturers, retailers, health practitioners as well as consumers, about the importance of food safety, and the part each can play in ensuring that everyone feels confident that the food on their plate is safe to eat. The theme is ‘Food Safety’.
The day was picked by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and World Health Organisation (WHO) of the United Nations over 50 years ago, to develop international food standards and guidelines to protect the health of consumers.
Unsafe food is linked to the deaths of an estimated two million people annually, including children. Food containing harmful bacteria, viruses, parasites or chemical substances is responsible for more than 200 diseases, ranging from diarrhoea to cancers.
As our food supply becomes increasingly globalised, the need to strengthen food safety systems in and between all countries is becoming more and more evident. That is why the WHO is promoting efforts to improve food safety, from farm to plate.
Food safety is a shared responsibility. It is important to work all along the food production chain – from farmers and manufacturers to vendors and consumers.
New threats to food safety are constantly emerging. Changes in food production, distribution and consumption. Changes to the environment, new and emerging pathogens, antimicrobial resistance – all pose challenges to national food safety systems. Increases in travel and trade enhance the likelihood that contamination can spread internationally.
To ensure food safety, WHO has long collaborated on several activities with FAO and the World Organisation for Animal Health to ensure food is safe at all stages of the food chain.
Regulatory agencies in food quality control
In Nigeria, the responsibility of regulating and monitoring food safety standards and practices falls on government organisations and agencies such as the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Consumer Protection Council (CPC), Federal Ministry of Health (FMH), National Codex Committee, Federal Ministry of Agriculture, and states and local governments.
NAFDAC is a government agency responsible for regulating and controlling the manufacture, importation, exportation, advertisement, distribution, sale and use of food, drugs, cosmetics, medical devices, chemicals and pre-packaged water. It also organises capacity-building workshops/training for the regulated industry in the food, pharmaceutical, cosmetic and chemical sectors to keep them updated as regards regulatory requirements. In the food industry, it organises training for quick service restaurant operators, master bakers and table water producers to ensure safety and quality.
In its food safety regulation, it prescribes the minimum food safety requirements for preparation, processing, manufacturing, packaging, storing and transportation. Other food safety requirements include distribution, handling and offering of food for sale or supply to the consumer.
SON is to ensure that the quality of products manufactured in Nigeria meet international standards.
Speaking with TheNiche on food safety, SON’s Head, Food/Codex Department, Mrs. Margaret Eshiett, said the mandate of her department under SON is to develop standard for food and agricultural commodity.
“We have parameter for safety and quality to guide manufacturers, importers and exporters. Manufacturers are expected to adopt the guidelines issued out by SON,” she said. Eshiett further said that the organisation has embarked on training stakeholders in the food industry on food safety, disclosing that the federal government has inaugurated a national safety management committee for the training of manufacturers on food safety management. She revealed that about 22 companies have been certified to satisfy the international standard.
Eshiett pointed out that the goal of SON is to focus on Food Safety and Quality Management System (FSMS), adding that the Quality Management System has promised to train about 200 people without charge on food management system. She stressed that every product made in this country should meet the international standard and safety.
How rights groups/nutritionists marked the day
Marking the World Health Day in Nigeria, civil rights groups and nutritionists decried the poor nutritional standing of Nigerians, especially the children, regretting that about 37 per cent of Nigerian children are malnourished and stunted in growth.
In Lagos, the Association of Public Health Physicians of Nigeria (APHPN), in collaboration with Sanofi Pasteur, held an event at Ikeja to mark the World Health Day. The groups advised Nigerians to ensure that their food is well protected and treated before consumption, to avoid food poisoning and food-borne diseases.
APHPN president, Dr. Oladoyin Odubanjo, said food safety is an area the public health should expedite action, to protect consumers from the risks of food poisoning and food-borne diseases, acute or chronic, adding that food safety is a prerequisite for food security.
“Nigerians should make sure that any food they consume must have NAFDAC registration number, to ensure it is free from food poisoning. Labelling is also very important. We should make sure that any processed food we consume must have labelling in order to identify where the food is coming from,” he advised.
“Pattern of cooking food is very important in the elimination of contamination in our foods and taking care of our environment where we cook our food. Government and NAFDAC need to come together to create awareness, educate people on what they ought to know to ensure food safety and avoid contamination in our food.”
In Abuja, a civil group known as Civil Society Scaling-Up Nutrition in Nigeria (CS-SUNN), in collaboration with the Abuja branch of APHPN, at a joint event marking the World Health Day with theme ‘Safe and Nutritious Food: A Panacea to Fighting Malnutrition and Diseases among Infants, Young Children and Women of Reproductive Age’ said “despite the progress made in reducing malnutrition, Nigerians, especially women and children, are still affected by many food-related challenges, including vitamins and minerals deficiencies, obesity and non-communicable diseases”.
The coalition further expressed: “Though nutrition in Nigeria has in recent years made progress in local food production, the poor nutritional status of Nigerian children has been a major concern to the coalition.
“Thirty-seven per cent of children under age five in Nigeria are classified as stunted, this rate is the highest in sub-Saharan Africa and the second in the world.”
Speaking at the event, chairman of Abuja APHPN, Terfa Kene, said the slogan for the 2015 event which is from ‘Farm to Plate, Make Food Safe’ is appropriate because “unsafe food containing harmful bacterial, viruses, parasites or chemical substances cause over 200 diseases ranging from diarrhoea to cancers and WHO estimates that food and water-borne diarrhoea and diseases kill about two million people annually, with 40 per cent befalling children.”
Consequently, the coalition has asked the government to reduce the terrible nutrition situation in Nigeria, and build other strategic structures that documents and improves food safety in Nigeria at all levels.
“Government through the Federal Ministry of Health has designed a plan through the 2014-2018 National Strategic Plan of Action on Nutrition (NSPAN) which is guided by the National Food and Nutrition Plan (NFNP) to reduce the number of under- five children who are stunted by 20 per cent.
“Government at all levels in Nigeria should improve on food safety through public awareness campaigns, and food consumers must ensure that the food on their plates are safe, ask questions, check labels and follow hygiene tips at all times,” the groups advised.
