The second World Food Safety Day (WFSD) was celebrated on June 7, 2020 to draw attention and inspire action to help prevent, detect and manage foodborne risks, contributing to food security, human health, economic prosperity, agriculture, market access, tourism and sustainable development, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
The theme, which remained the same as last year’s was ‘Food safety, everyone’s business’.
In respect to this, the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) celebrated this day by organising a video seminar on Monday, June 8, with the focus on ‘Food Safety in Our Business Environment During this COVID-19 Period’.
In her welcome address, the Chief Executive Officer of the FDA, Delese Mimi Darko acknowledged that “the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in food supply chains being disrupted with some products, ingredients, or materials being unavailable or in short supply. In the rush to identify new suppliers, food businesses may focus less attention on the integrity of the supply chain, thereby compromising on food safety and food fraud.”
It is for this reason that the FDA is ensuring that foodborne illnesses are prevented while building and maintaining the body’s immune system to fight COVID-19.
She added, “The FDA is, therefore, working with the food industry to ensure the prevention and spread of COVID-19 in order to forestall any potential food safety and nutritional challenges that may arise. Continuous education and food safety awareness is on-going via our social media handles to equip everyone in making informed choices whiles improving their health via the consumption of safe food.”
The Head of the Food Industrial Support Services Department (FISSD) at the FDA, Ebenezer Kofi Essel during a panel discussion on the seminar indicated that the Authority has considered the use of technologies in the execution of some regulatory functions.
Also in a bid to reduce the negative impact of COVID-19 on businesses while ensuring the safety of the food supply chain, the Authority has “put together a comprehensive data on food businesses to facilitate risk categorization of these operations by realigning risk profiling attention and resources to operations classified as medium or high risk.”
The World Food Safety Day virtual seminar also had speakers from the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Food and Agriculture, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and Civil Society Organizations.