Code of practice for caterers

Page 11
27-08-08

THE Food and Drugs Board (FDB) is collaborating with the Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP) to develop a code of practice to guide caterers providing food for pupils under the programme.
The move is to ensure that beneficiary children are fed with meals prepared under strict hygienic conditions, as well as ensure the overall success of the programme.
Mr Kofi Essel, acting Head of the Food Inspectorate Department of the FDB, announced this at a meeting between officials of the GSFP and caterers under the programme in Accra at the weekend.
He said it was the mandate of the Board to ensure that foods were prepared in a manner that would not injure those who ate them, adding that it was sad to hear of food vendors using ingredients that were not approved to prepare food.
Under the code of practice, he said, the Board would have an audit team that would undertake surprise visits to the premises of the caterers to observe whether or not the code was being adhered to.
Mr Essel urged the caterers not to take food safety, handling and transportation for granted because any lapse could have serious effects on the health of the pupils.
He expressed concern about the manner in which some food vendors coloured the food they prepared for the public, saying that there were also traders who coloured the food items they sold.
He cited the coloration of pork, turkey meat and palm oil, among other things.
The National Co-ordinator of the GSFP, Mr Michael Nsowah, warned that anyone, especially caterers, who tried to sabotage the programme would be expelled.
He appealed to districts who consciously delayed payments to caterers to desist from such unhealthy practices.
Mr Nsowah urged the caterers to be professional in what they did, saying that “reports had it that some food for the pupils were prepared overnight”.
He charged the caterers to prepare food under very good conditions, since other reports had shown that the manner in which some foods were prepared left much to be desired.
Mr Nsowah said the District Implementation Committee, School Implementation Committee and the District Nutrition Officers should always meet and plan the menu for the day.
The spokesperson for the caterers, Mrs Juliana Woode, expressed concern about delays in payments to them and stressed the need for early payments to enable them to prepare adequately and ahead of time.
Some of the caterers deplored the manner in which some teachers were interfering in the operations of the programme, adding that teachers went to the extent of questioning foods that were prepared on certain days.
The caterers said some head teachers admitted pupils throughout the academic year and noted that such situations affected the number of students who were to benefit from the programme.