The Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) is urging the public to report food vendors who cook their food with questionable ingredients, which are likely to negatively impact the health of consumers.
The Assembly assured that its public health officers are on standby to follow up on reports of such incidents to reduce the incidence of food poisoning.
Speaking on the back of a food vendor who was arrested around the O.A Bus Terminal last week for selling contaminated chicken, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) for AMA, Gilbert Ankrah, urged the public to speak up if they notice unwholesome food being prepared.
“If you are a citizen anywhere, and you find anyone doing anything contrary to logic, laid down procedures, for instance, if someone is cooking, and you can see that the ingredients the person is using are not wholesome, visit the Assembly or report the issue for action to be taken. Food safety is a shared responsibility, and for us to ensure that we have healthy and clean food, we must all be prepared to speak up when we see some of these things so that action will be taken,” he entreated.
The PRO for AMA further admonished the public to demand health certificates from food vendors when necessary.
“We also want to use this medium to also let food vendors understand that they are supposed to display their food handlers certificate so that customers will know that they have been certified. This goes to the customers, we all have a responsibility to play when it comes to issues of food safety. You have the right to demand the certificates of food vendors. Right from storage to production, distribution, even the preparation and consumption of whatever we are eating,” the Public Relations Officer (PRO) for AMA entreated.