World Health Day: Traders schooled on food safety

Cameroon joins the international community to commemorate the World Health Day on the theme Food Security “From Farm to Plate, Make Food Safe”.

In prelude to the day, the World Health Organisation (WHO) in collaboration with the Ministry of Public Health and other government ministries yesterday, April 6, 2015 organised a roundtable discussion to continue a sensitisation campaign with traders and producers on how to ensure food safety from the time it is harvested right up to when it gets to the dining table.

WHO-Country Office Nutrition Focal Point, Etienne Kembou, said world statistics indicated that unsafe food is linked to the deaths of an estimated two million people annually, especially children.

While reiterating that food containing harmful bacteria, viruses, parasites or chemical substances is responsible for more than 200 diseases, ranging from diarrhoea to cancer, Etienne Kembou said WHO is out to sensitise producers and traders on hygiene and sanitation measures to apply when cultivating and selling food stuffs to the population.

Besides carrying out sanitation campaigns with chicken, vegetable and fruits traders in the Mvog-Ada and Mfoundi markets in Yaounde on basic hygiene measures to respect while selling food stuffs, Etienne Kembou said “buyam sellams” were also told how they can ensure food security to avoid contamination.

While health authorities gather to discuss the importance of food to global health, the entire population is called upon to know that food safety is a shared responsibility.

The sensitisation slogans are “Keep Clean”, Separate Raw and Cooked Food” and “Cook Food Thoroughly” amongst other things.