Wa, Jan. 28, GNA – The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) has asked street food vendors to get operational permits to ensure that the food they sell to the consuming public is safe.
They are also required to undergo medical screening to be sure that they are not carrying any food-borne disease.
Mr. Albert Ankomah, the Upper West Regional Head of the FDA, was speaking at the launch of the Street Food Vendors Permit in Wa.
He announced that the FDA and its partners would conduct regular inspections to make sure that the food venders did the right thing.
“The public health act empowers FDA to collaborate with the District Assemblies to ensure that wherever food is being sold, wherever food is being prepared and wherever food is being stored or manufactured, the food will come out very safe and be of good quality.
The inspection of the food vendors is not totally new because the environmental health officers have been conducting some sort of inspection, but we realized that it has gone down.”
According to him, the FDA had been inspecting restaurants, kitchens, and hotels and could therefore not leave out the street food vendors.
“To every law, there are sanctions, the public health act, act 202; act 851 has sanctions in it. But we are not dwelling on the sanctions now; we are doing more of education and inspection.
Our main aim is that the food should come out very safe, but you know if someone is being recalcitrant, the law sanctions are there, but that is not our focus now.”
GNA