SAFEGUARDING THE HEALTH OF CONSUMERS

Street Foods are described as ready to eat foods/beverages prepared and/or sold by vendors/ hawkers especially on the streets and other similar places. Mostly, the foods are in-expensive and most accessible means of obtaining a nutritionally balanced meal outside the home for many. The activity of street food vendors and hawkers supports local agricultural producers and food processors and contributes to local and national economic growth.

But, as a stakeholder and someone who has been involved in the provision of these street vended foods while working with a big and established fast food chain in Nigeria and I know how things is best done, I was happy when I was invited to be part of the training program for the street food vendors and hawkers and their sectorial groups. I am more particular with how best we can address the food safety concerns of this category of street trade especially as it affects the cleanliness of the production area and improper handling of raw items used in production and personal hygiene of operators, so as to ensure the quality and safety of the final consumers. My interest at the maiden edition THE NIGERIA STREET FOOD CONFERENCE (NSFC) at a training program jointly organized by my professional association, The Nigerian Institute of Food Science and Technology (NIFST) and The Global Sight Services Limited, as the founder of the Street Food Forum (SFF) platform on social media is to join other like-minded groups to improve the conditions under which street foods are prepared and sold. Unlike structured restaurants where adherence to standard operating procedure are strictly enforced, reverse is the case with street vendors and if there should be a breakout of foodborne-illness, a larger proportion of the populace will be affected and that is why all of us are involved. We have to advocate sharing of good and best practices and ensure that Good Hygiene Practices (GHP) are employed by the actors across all the street food value chains.

This is the only way achieving Goal 3 of the UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) which is to establish good health and wellbeing of our people by the year 2030 will be seamless.

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