The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) has warned all street food vendors who are operating without a valid permit to stop.
The authority says such actions are illegal and punishable by law.
Available data from the authority shows that only 1,079 food service establishments across the country have been issued with the FDA’s food hygiene permits. The establishments include restaurants, food joints, street-vendor food, chop bars and catering facilities.
The data also shows that only 1,079 food vendors meet the FDA’s minimum food safety requirements out of about 5,000 street vendors who have been trained in good hygiene practices since 2021.
Speaking on the sidelines at an event to mark this year’s World Food Safety Day in Kumasi on 8 June, the deputy chief executive officer (CEO) of the FDA, Roderick Kwabena Daddey-Adjei, expressed concern about the blatant disregard for authority’s food standards. This, he said, puts the lives of consumers in danger.
Daddey-Adjei, however, stated that the FDA’s food safety policy will deal with such threats.
He issued a caution saying, “We are asking the public to be on the lookout for the street food vendor permit…the appropriate technology to get your business going. All the people who have this permit may have done some medical tests so they can’t transmit any disease to anybody. We have said that if you are a vendor and operating without this permit, you do this at your own peril. You will not be spared.”
The deputy CEO also said, “So, we embark on post-market surveillance to gather intelligence… and you can pick crucial information about some criminal activities. We have had our tipoffs and had some persons arrested…Also, the food emergency response plan by the FDA brings together all stakeholders to deal with such issues and sensitize the public on standard practices.”
Food standards specify how food should be handled, measured, packaged, transported and labelled to keep it safe. Daddey-Adjei explained that maintaining food safety is crucial throughout the entire food chain.
He called on the citizenry to give it much attention, urging Ghanaians to support the efforts of government regulatory agencies to achieve real and lasting solutions to food safety issues.
This year’s World Food Safety Day was on the theme: “Safer food, better lives.”
Reporting by Paulina Serwaa Gyamfi in the Ashanti Region
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