The Food and Drugs Authority, FDA, as part of its regulatory activities to ensure food safety is embarking on a nationwide public sensitization on the Street Food vending permit.
This new measure comes a week after the authority received notification through its Food Safety Alert System on Sunday, 22nd January 2023, on a suspected foodborne disease outbreak which was reported to have occurred at Oyibi, within the Adenta Municipality, in the Greater Accra Region.
According to the FDA, investigations revealed that a total of fifty-three (53) people experienced symptoms of the foodborne disease after consuming waakye or plain rice and tomato stew from a food vendor called Yellow Sisi located at Bush Canteen, a suburb of Oyibi.
The authority noted that so far one person has been reported dead, but the exact cause of death is yet to be confirmed. Environmental assessment of the food preparation site located at Malejor and the three vending sites at Bush Canteen, Prison Joint and Sharp Curve Joint revealed poor food handling practices which could have resulted in the contamination of the food, leading to the foodborne disease outbreak.
The Food and Drugs Authority has since suspended its operations until further notice.
In order to regulate activities to ensure food safety, FDA has asked the public to buy from its approved Street Food Vendors.
