How many of us are aware that it’s an offence to sell food to the public from filthy environment?

Well, our Public Health Act [Act 851] of 2012 is very clear on this: Part Five, section 51 and 52 are explicit on how offensive it is to offer unwholesome food for sale or sell food to the public from filthy environment.

But what do we see? Many of our food vendors sell food to the public from filthy environment. They usually carry out this act on the edges of our drains/gutters. Do we even need to sell foods on the edges of our opened drains/gutters?  I guess not.

In an attempt to hide their unhygienic act of selling on the edges of filthy gutters/drains, some have devised a strange mechanism of covering portions of the gutters/drains with woods. They do this to prevent customers from seeing the nature of the environment they are buying from.  

What some of these vendors have forgotten is the fact that it’s always hard to resist the stench that comes along with filthy gutters/drains. Obviously, the to and fro movement of houseflies between the drains/gutters and the food being sold cannot be prevented by the wooden structure. 

You might previously been checking only personal hygiene aspect of the food vendor, but try as much as possible to consider the environment you are buying foods from as well. Public Health knowledge makes us understand that, for most communicable/diarrhea diseases [including foodborne diseases] to occur, there should be a favourable relationship between; agent, host, and environment. Houseflies play an important role in this relationship, in most cases, serving as carriers of the disease-causing agent [pathogen].

Naturally, flies love the stench as compared to the aroma of foods, but they are always going to try and make contact with the ready-to-eat food anyway.

Reject foods from a filthy environment. Eat healthy foods.

Live a Preventive Health Life!

#PreventiveHealth #HealthPromotion #GlobalGoal3

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The author is the founder of PHAN-Ghana, an institution that educates and empowers the less privileged in society to increase control over preventable causes of diseases,injuries and deaths.