Stakeholders call for urgent action on food safety

Participants at the 2023 World Food Safety Day celebration yesterday in Abuja emphasized the need for the nation to step up efforts to create a food safety system to save lives.

The event is expected to raise awareness of the issue and encourage people to take steps to help avoid, detect, and manage foodborne risks – steps, which support food security, human health, economic success, agricultural output and market access.

In his speech, Dr Otto Muhinda, the country team leader for FAO’s Emergency Centre for Transboundary Animal Diseases (ECTAD), referred to the year’s theme, “Food standards save lives,” and explained that standards not only provide guidance to farmers and processors on the hygienic handling of food, but also define the maximum level of additives and contaminants that can be consumed.

In his goodwill message, Dr Samuel Anzaku of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development who represented the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Dr. Ernest Afolabi Umakhihe, said inter-agency cooperation was essential for addressing issues surrounding food safety in the country.

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Various speakers from the Federal Ministry of Health, NAFDAC, Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON) and other development partners who raised concerns at the meeting, said there was a need for the country to scale up sensitization of all the relevant stakeholders in the food chain.