In our bid to achieve food sufficiency, the issue of food safety should be a focal point for stakeholders, especially in developing countries, where food safety is hardly talked about or considered in their food supply chain. The focus has always been on the quantity produced, however, the food safety issue is a public concern. Currently, food value chain actors are adopting poor practices to increase profit at the detriment of the health of the consumers.

Besides, it was found that there are many food laws stating production systems to be adopted, prohibited or disallowed substances in food value activities, but the implementation of the laws has been poorly done and the monitoring system is very inefficient. Therefore, it is important to redesign the monitoring system in place to ensure consistent quality of food produced for our populace. In addition, only nutritious and safe foods are produced and distributed locally in our markets. We need more training on food safety for food value chain actors at different levels of production to understand good hygiene practices and food handling practices in order to reduce cross contamination in the food supply chain.

In conclusion, our food needs to be effective medicine to our body, providing us with the adequate nutrients, always. Therefore, all relevant stakeholders in the agricultural sector must be actively involved to achieve food safety and bring it to the forefront, and we should create the appropriate awareness at the various levels within the local space. Let us brace up and seek the right solutions to make food truly, food for all!

Yours-in-Service,
Babatunde