Food Vendors Without Health Certificates To Be Prosecuted: Tema Metropolis Takes The Lead With Bold Move

• Food vendors would be punished if they are found to be plying their trade without a valid food certificate, authorities have announced
• The move comes after rampant instances of food poisoning, some fatal, reported in parts of the country
• The Tema Metropolitan Assembly for instance has started a fierce screening campaign at all food joints in the metropolis to ensure compliance with the new move

Health authorities in Ghana are stamping their feet against street food sold in unhygienic environments.

The move is to check the persistent incidence of contaminated foods sold to Ghanaians.

In Tema, the metropolitan assembly has said food vendors with no health certificates would be prosecuted according to the law.

The Tema Metropolitan Assembly's environmental health officer Wisdom Aditse has told the state-own Ghana News Agency (GNA) that the health certificates would be given to deserving food vendors that pass an inspection.

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The screening would check if there is a possibility that communicable diseases could be transferred to food consumers as well as the hygiene conditions of the environment where the food is sold.

Education of food vendors to intensify

Aditse told the GNA that during screening, health officers would educate food vendors on the best practices for keeping their facilities clean to prevent diseases.

“When we screen you now, at the end of the year it expires, so you have to be screened the following year,” he said.

He said food vendors who fail to renew their certificates after one year would be prosecuted.

Incidents of contaminated food are quite common in Ghana, even at eateries deemed top-tier.

FDA acts fast as Yellow Sisi waakye at Oyibi kills one person, hurts 53 others

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YEN.com.gh reported previously that the FDA promptly suspended the operations of a food business after cases of food poisoning were reported.

The suspension comes after some 53 persons were affected and one person died after consuming either waakye or plain rice and tomato stew from a food vendor called Yellow Sisi.

Some Ghanaians took to social media to share their thoughts on the action of the FDA in suspending the food business.

22 people were hospitalised after eating food suspected to be contaminated

Meanwhile, YEN.com.gh reported in a previous story that a small farming community in the Oti Region was gripped by an incident of food poisoning.

The incident happened on Sunday, May 14, 2023, after the victims ate food served at the funeral held on the same day.

At least 22 people who ate the variety of foods served at the event were hospitalised.

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Source: YEN.com.gh