The County Government of Nakuru, in partnership with the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), is training 1,213 traders on the best food safety practices in a move aimed at reducing the rising burden of foodborne diseases and promoting public health.
According to the Nakuru County Secretary, Dr. Samuel Mwaura, the training will also focus on fair trade practices towards ensuring preservation of food quality from production, handling, processing, preparation, and marketing in order to prevent contamination.
Dr. Mwaura explained that the initiative, which is being implemented under the County Nutrition Action Plan (CNAP), will see the County’s Departments of Health, Trade, and Agriculture and GAIN field officers engage shopkeepers, agricultural and livestock product’s traders, hoteliers, and last-mile vendors from all the 11 sub-counties to ensure consumers of their products access safe and nutritious foods that meet their daily dietary requirements.
Speaking when he hosted GAIN Country Director Ms. Ruth Okowa, the County Secretary said unsafe food had devastating effects on the economy and businesses and emphasized the need to invest in a system that ensures the safety of food from the farms to the table.
He expressed optimism that the sensitisation will go a long way in boosting farmers’ and traders’ safety practices to the required standards and also ensuring the safety of consumers.
He noted that simple food safety training for informal vendors could limit the spread of SARS, avian influenza, tuberculosis, and pathogens such as salmonella, adding that through the partnership with GAIN, a further 30 healthcare workers were being trained on food fortification to boost the disease prevention efforts.
County Executive Committee Member (CECM) for Health Ms. Roselyn Mungai indicated that the devolved unit’s administration had also been empowering and encouraging farmers to apply Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) because investment in food safety practices had enabled them to tap more lucrative markets.
Ms. Mungai said they were providing both farmers and consumers with food safety information through public awareness and field days to enable them to become agents through their actions and that the County Government was strengthening its food safety initiatives since the operationalisation of the Nakuru County Public Health Food Laboratory five months ago.
To further strengthen these efforts, the CECM announced that with support from the GAIN, they were conducting a follow-up training for Sub County Food Safety Focal Persons, Public Health Officers, and Nutritionists from all 11 Sub-Counties on food safety and fortification.
“Food safety is sensitive to a country’s social stability and development and needs to be prioritised as an area of concern,” she stated.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) notes that foodborne diseases are responsible for a comparable burden of illness such as cancer and tuberculosis in Africa, with young children bearing the brunt of it. The World Health Organisation further indicates that the resulting health cost implications and threat to productivity are incapacitating.
It is estimated by the World Health Organisation (WHO) that 1 in 10 people in the world fall ill after eating contaminated food, and around 420,000 die each year.
According to a study by the WHO, roughly 1,140 lives per 100,000 are lost due to foodborne diseases in Kenya. Apart from personal suffering for affected consumers, consumption of unsafe food increases public health costs for governments, reduces productivity of workers, and causes disruptions of food markets for business operators.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), food security is only achieved when people have access to, among others, safe and nutritious food that is necessary for a healthy life.
The County Assembly has drafted the Nakuru Food and Feed Safety, Quality Control Coordination Bill 2024 to safeguard the public against contamination of food and feeds, which pose health hazards to humans and livestock.
By Esther Mwangi
