1 min
In this week's Letter to My Farmers, Babatunde focuses on the importance of providing safe, cost-effective produce to consumers without compromising the production process.
The role of food handlers cannot be overemphasized in order to achieve access to safe and healthy food. The chain of food safety is incomplete without these actors who ensure that food is easily accessed by the final consumers. Food waste occurs mostly at the retail and consumption stages. Due to lack of efficient storage infrastructure at this stage, a lot of poor practices are being engaged to preserve the food, reduce food wastage and increase their profit, thus most times compromising the safety of the food.
The force ripening of fruits (to achieve uniformity), increasing the shelf life of food, retaining the freshness of vegetables and fruits, and the reduction of live insects in grains are some of the key activities food handlers are engaged in, in order to achieve premium price for the produce and reduce food waste. However, the majority of them have adopted poor practices to achieve their aim with the use of dangerous and unwholesome chemicals that have caused more problems and impacted consumers adversely. Therefore, there is a need to re-orientate food handlers.
To achieve food safety at the retailing stage, more awareness needs to be carried out on the danger of using prohibited chemicals on food. Also, cost-effective alternatives need to be developed and accessible by the food vendors to achieve their aim. Furthermore, there is need for more regulations and monitoring to be done by the government to discourage continuous engagement of food vendors in these poor practices.
Therefore, we all must be involved at different levels and promote sustainable practices that are human and environmentally friendly. This is because we need to eat and remain healthy to ensure economic growth and development in our nation.
Yours-in-Service,
Babatunde
The force ripening of fruits (to achieve uniformity), increasing the shelf life of food, retaining the freshness of vegetables and fruits, and the reduction of live insects in grains are some of the key activities food handlers are engaged in, in order to achieve premium price for the produce and reduce food waste. However, the majority of them have adopted poor practices to achieve their aim with the use of dangerous and unwholesome chemicals that have caused more problems and impacted consumers adversely. Therefore, there is a need to re-orientate food handlers.
To achieve food safety at the retailing stage, more awareness needs to be carried out on the danger of using prohibited chemicals on food. Also, cost-effective alternatives need to be developed and accessible by the food vendors to achieve their aim. Furthermore, there is need for more regulations and monitoring to be done by the government to discourage continuous engagement of food vendors in these poor practices.
Therefore, we all must be involved at different levels and promote sustainable practices that are human and environmentally friendly. This is because we need to eat and remain healthy to ensure economic growth and development in our nation.
Yours-in-Service,
Babatunde
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