Kenya join the world in marking World Food Safety Day
On June 7, 2021, Kenya joined the rest of the world in celebrating the 3rd World Food Safety Day. The theme of this year being ‘Safe Food Today, for a Healthy Tomorrow,’ the country organized an online webinar to raise awareness and inspire action on the importance of food safety in the country and the African region at large.
The National Planning Committee Coordinated by the Ministry of Health held a 5-hour webinar which included panelists from various stakeholders of food safety and security.
The webinar started with the keynote speaker introducing the different panels and the various topics they were going to cover including:
- Strengthening Policy and Regulatory GAPS in Food Safety,
- Opportunities for Regional Trade and Challenges of Regulating Food Safety in Africa,
- Industry Focus on Food Safety Management in the Retail, Hotels, Restaurants, Catering, and Institutional Sectors,
- Strengthening Food Safety Partnerships.
The panelists gave their respective presentations and what really stood out in every panel discussion was the participation of organizations when it comes to matters of consumer engagement. That being said, more needed to be done.
Mr. Rikki Agudah, the CEO, Society of Crop Agribusiness Advisors of Kenya (SOCAA) said that ‘everyone is a consumer, and all of us need to take ownership in the food safety issues by working towards solutions.’ He also emphasized the need for consumers to have consumer groups to access the right information concerning food safety rather that receiving alerts from the press.
Mr. Allan Barasa, the senior public health Officer in the Ministry of Health concluded by saying, ‘the webinar is a way of getting the right information out to the consumer and to be able to demystify the term ‘food safety’ being a ‘Scientific or academic’ concept that even when the consumer thinks of engaging in it, they are put off. Rather, the ministry will try and package the information from the webinar in good time and in a very simple and understandable language.’
More about the Kenyan WFSD Webinar: https://web.facebook.com/SOCAAKENYA/videos/838048010141485