Caterers call for tough bye-laws for food vendors

Accra, Jan 21, GNA - The Ghana Traditional Caterers Association (GTCA) has called for the strengthening of the bye-laws and regulations on licensing of caterers and street food vendors and said there is the need for a comprehensive policy on street food hygiene.

Speaking at the end of a seminar under the theme; "Food Hygiene Among Street Vendor," Mr. Paul Odru-Frimpong, Executive Director of the Society For Managing Initiative and Leadership Enhancement (SMILE) Ghana, pointed out that between December 1996, a survey by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) indicated that 94 per cent of street food vendors were uneducated and unskilled women.

He said they had no formal training in proper food handling and lacked infrastructure such as potable water and had to contend with an inefficient and unreliable waste system with inconvenient eating places. Mr. Odru-Frimpong stated that the report revealed that food vendors were not aware of the possible sources of food contamination resulting from raw materials acquisition, preparation, storage during sale, handling and final delivery to the consumer.

He stressed the need for an effective food hygiene education for street vendors and a mechanism for collecting information from stakeholders for developing a policy on street food hygiene. Mr Odru-Frimpong identified the stakeholders as the Food and Drugs Board, Tourist Board, the Environmental Health and Sanitation Inspectorate.

He called for a check of the proliferation of street, table-top and mobile food vendors whose activities were not controlled. The Executive Director attributed this to the lack of legislative mandate for the Association to control the operations of non-members. Mr Emmanuel Kotoku of the Environment, Health and Sanitation Unit of the Tema Municipal Assembly (TMA), stressed the need for people to be law-abiding and to do the right thing to promote environmental sanitation and cleanliness in the country.

Ms Maria Lovelace Johnson of the Food and Drugs Board urged the public not to buy expired goods on the market but to report such dealers to the law enforcement agencies to protect public safety. The seminar was organized by the GTCA and sponsored by the Business Sector Advocacy Challenge Fund.