Growing together…….lifting others
The 2023 theme of World Food Safety Day “food standards save lives” calls the policy makers, food service businesses, institutions, workplaces and consumers to action. Two prominent members of AfREN, puts this call to action into perspectives.
Prof Helen Onyeka a faculty member of the school of chemical engineering at the University of Birmingham (www. https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/) and a proud member of AfREN calls the consumer to action in her professional voice to the conversation on what consumers need to do differently to mitigate food safety concerns associated with fresh produce supply chain in Africa, Nigeria as a case study.
As an invited guest to the symposium to commemorate world food safety day In Botswana, a food safety management system consultant, and a member of AfREN, Susan Njeri Thara-Sekgweng, challenged leadership in all African countries to start to do things differently with food safety concern across the fresh produce supply chain. According to her, “A food safety culture we celebrate and want to see in our near future is one that comes from a boardroom that is strategically planned for and communicated to all from farm to fork”.
At a recently held seminar organized by AfREN, Susan was a guest speaker alongside the erudite scholar and President of the International Academy of Food Science & Technology – IAFoST, Prof. Ogugua Charles Aworh. The two speakers advised respective governments in sub-Sahara Africa that farm level hazards, transportation hazards, safety culture among all actors as well as the food safety hazards at the retail end must be harmonized to develop a composite food safety management system framework and certification for the supply chain of farm produce that are consumed directly – https://afrenet.org/food-safety-issues-in-fresh-produce-supply-chain-2/
