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The Director General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Prof Mojisola Adeyeye, has called on all stakeholders in the food supply chain to take deliberate actions to institute a food safety culture in their operations to mitigate hazards and risks that could compromise food safety
Prof Adeyeye, who gave the warning at the 2024 World Food Safety Day with the theme ‘Food Safety: Prepare for the Unexpected,’ said food safety is not only important for the public health, but also a necessary condition for economic development and food security.
She emphasised that everybody has a role to play, starting from the farm to the table, to ensure the food we consume is safe and will not cause damage to our health.
She added that for the World Food Safety Day 2024, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) asked the stakeholders along the food supply chain if they were prepared to address the unexpected threats to food safety in an increasingly interconnected and interlinked global food supply.
Prof Adeyeye noted that food safety is a collective responsibility, adding that everyone from the producers to the consumers need to play their part to be sure that the food people eat is safe, adding that the campaign aims to promote global food safety awareness to strengthen efforts at preventing, detecting and managing food-borne risks globally by highlighting the importance of being prepared for food safety incidents.
“Food safety incidents are situations where there is a potential or confirmed health risk associated with food consumption. A food incident can happen for example, due to accidents, inadequate controls, food fraud or natural events. While being ready to manage food safety incidents requires dedicated efforts from policy makers, food safety authorities, farmers, and food business operators, as well as consumers can also play a very active role,” she said.
According to the NAFDAC boss, the World Food Safety Day 2024 communication toolkit suggests that governments commit to developing or updating national food safety emergency response plans, strengthen national food control systems, increase surveillance and coordination capacities and improve communication with food businesses and the public.
Consequently, she noted that the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare has developed programmes for the elimination, eradication, prevention and control of diseases, which include the National Integrated Guidelines for Food-borne Disease Surveillance and Response which is useful for preparedness and rapid response to emerging and re-emerging food-borne diseases.
She, however, noted that this year’s theme calls for all stakeholders from regulatory officers, experts, and producers to processors, distributors, retailers, restaurant outlets and consumers to consider if they are indeed prepared for the unexpected.
“Let us all stay true to the statements ‘food safety is everyone’s business’ and ‘food safety is a shared responsibility,’ as we celebrate this year’s World Food Safety Day. Working together, we will continue to strengthen our food safety system, ensuring its resilience, robustness and preparedness for the unexpected.”
Speaking on ‘Developing a food safety emergency response plan: Implementation of the national guidelines for food-borne disease surveillance and response,’ the Director of Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (FSAN), Mrs. Eva Edwards, warned that food-borne diseases are expensive, yet they are preventable.
In recent years, she recalled that the global community, as well as the national government recognised the public health effect of food-borne diseases as capable of causing considerable burden of diseases and mortality.
She emphasised the significance of food as a necessity for human life, stressing that it could also be a source of harm if not handled properly.
Mrs. Edwards stated that food safety emergency response must be anchored on a multi-sectoral, collaborative, and integrated one-health approach across the health, agriculture, and environment sectors.
The objective is to have a coordinated approach to investigating food-borne disease outbreaks and contributing knowledge and skills from the different sectors to achieve a robust and comprehensive investigation.
She said the mix of skills would bring to the fore the robustness of the investigation, adding that the emergency response team might include epidemiologists, laboratory scientists, environmental health officers, and food safety control officers, among others.
“Let’s all play our part in promoting the culture of good hygiene practices in our homes, communities and food establishments. Together, we can ensure a safer and healthier food supply for everyone.”
The World Food Safety Day was established in 2018 by the United Nations General Assembly after it was suggested by the Codex Alimentarius Commission as a way of raising food safety awareness and promoting collaboration across sectors.
According to the WHO estimates, globally one in 10 people become sick, and 420,000 die each year after consuming contaminated food, which is attributed to the loss of 33 million years of healthy life, with children under five years and other vulnerable groups, disproportionately affected in the poorer areas of the world. In developing countries, about $110 billion is lost every year on medical expenses due to unsafe food.
