The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) has launched a National Food Chain Policy to ensure safe and suitable food for consumers as it commemorated World Food Safety Day.
The policy is designed to build a resilient system that will ensure safe and appropriate food for consumers.
It is also to address the overlaps and clarify the roles and responsibilities of stakeholder agencies along the food chain.
The policy, titled “Safer food, greater health,” was introduced in Accra by Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, Minister of Health, who emphasized that it was a move toward a new direction in food safety.
The minister added, “This policy will serve as a framework and act as a reminder that winning is a shared responsibility so that those who are tasked must work constructively with other authorities to ensure they deliver on their mandate.
The need to raise safety standards throughout the food value chain is necessary for improved health outcomes, he continued, even though we have made great progress in the area of food safety.
According to Mr. Agyeman-Manu, the policy’s goals were to improve Ghana’s governance of food safety, foster collaboration for food safety, and encourage harmonization and enforcement of the country’s food safety laws and regulations.
In order to ensure that the country’s food policy is successfully and efficiently implemented, he said, “These major objectives have been converted into a five-year action plan that defines tactics and activities that will be conducted.”
A coordinated effort is required to combat food-borne illnesses, according to Delese A. A. Darko, the FDA’s chief executive officer.
State-owned organizations in Ghana should work together to carry out initiatives that are focused on producing safe food, she said, adding that the fight against food-borne illnesses must have a multi-sectoral approach.
Ms. Darko continued by saying that it was time for the FDA and its agencies to consider their joint duties and tasks in order to help safeguard against, control, and prevent food-borne infections and the illnesses and even fatalities they can cause.
In order to guarantee safe and suitable food for all customers, the launch also coincided with the creation of a management committee for the National Food Safety Emergency Response Plan (FORSERP).
A coordinated and uniform method to preparing for, preventing, protecting against, mitigating, and responding to safety emergencies is provided by the FORSERP.
The FDA’s action was applauded by representatives of the World Health Organization (WHO), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, and the World Food Programme (WFP).
Separately, they vowed to continue raising awareness about the significance of a safe food supply, highlighting how doing so would promote good health, a healthy society, and lessen strain on the healthcare system.
