NUTRITION

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FOOD HYGIENE PRACTICES AMONG FOOD VENDORS

Prior to the medical exercise in the Municipality the Environmental Health Unit organized a sensitization seminar on the 3^rd August, 2022 for food vendors and school feeding caterers.

Venue: the venue for the meeting was Presbyterian Church of Ghana, Asuom

Time: the meeting started at 9:30am and ended at 12: 16pm

 Participants

 The meeting was attended by 55 participants; out of the 55partcipants 11 were school feeding caterers while 44 were food vendors. In all nine (9) males and forty-six females attended the program

ISSUES DISCUSSED

The Municipal Environmental health officer            in the person of Mr. Stephen Asante communicated to the food vendors about the importance of hand washing; he said frequent hand washing has the potential of preventing diarrhea diseases such as cholera and typhoid. The participants were made to understand the need to cook food adequately to kill pathogens, avoiding cross contamination during handling and cooking of food.

Participants were made to understand the need to

• Keep surroundings and utensils clean to prevent microbial growth
• Separate raw food from cooked food to prevent cross contamination
• Keep fingernails short to keep it neat and prevent harborages of germs
• Use clean and safe water for cooking.
• Put on protective clothing

It was further reiterated to the food handlers, the importance of food and nutrition to the well-being of people in the Municipality, they were made to know that we do not only eat for satisfaction but for energy and body building as such the nutrition cannot be taken for granted. They were advised to include vegetables in their food preparation because it contains vitamins that promote healthy growth.

RECOMMENDATION

There should be more health education and sensitization of food and drink handlers in the municipality.