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| Vended food worries consumer groups |
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by
Felix Malamula, 17 June 2005
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14:57:11
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Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), Consumer International and Consumers Association of Malawi (Cama) are meeting in Lilongwe to strategise on how to improve the standards of vended food.
Opening the three-day workshop on Thursday, Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Health Wesley Sangala said at the meeting that street vending has been a source of outbreaks of diseases like cholera and diarrhoea because of poor sanitation in areas where vendors ply their trade.
“Street vended foods are prone to contamination because of the environment in which they are sold. Therefore, it is my hope that the workshop will come up with strategies on how to improve health standards on street foods,” said Sangala.
Amadou Kanoute, Consumers International Africa regional director, said consumers have to know their rights to safety and should access information pertaining to the type of food they are consuming.
“Consumer safety starts with the knowledge of what you eat. You have to know the ingredients of the food you are eating before making a choice to buy,” said Kanoute.
Cama executive director John Kapito described consumer safety as paramount to one’s long life.
He added that the workshop presents an opportunity to his organisation to seek long-term solutions to deal with problems related to street vended food.
Kapito said despite the problems that come with consumption of this food, majority of people in the country and other African states have been depending on this food for a long time.
“This food is cheap, as well as physically and economically accessible to everybody even the poor,” said Kapito.
The workshop has drawn participants from seven countries in eastern southern Africa including Kenya, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Benin.
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