NMBM zooms into food safety for children
Published: June 07, 2022<< BACK TO NEWS
Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality Public Health Portfolio Head, Cllr Thsonono Buyeye has called on all school nutrition workers at local schools to take extra precaution in preparing food for children, to contribute positively to their growth and reduce the incidence of food-borne diseases.
This comes as the world commemorated the annual World Food Safety Day on Tuesday, 7 June 2022, which was introduced to promote safer, healthier and sustainable food production globally.
In line with this year’s theme for the day - "Safer food, better health” - the City, in partnership with the Provincial Department of Health, trained and educated 100 school nutrition workers who work in early learning centres in Motherwell, New Brighton, KwaZakhele and Zwide to reduce food-borne diseases, especially amongst children as a vulnerable group.
During the training held in Nangoza Jebe Hall, MMC Buyeye, said that it was vital for the workers to be armed with knowledge, as they work with children whose immune systems are still developing, rendering them more vulnerable to disease.
"Our children must not become sick from unknown food related diseases. We must put measures in place to prevent such incidents from taking place. We have taken a non-negotiating approach that we will close food operating premises down if we find them in breach of food safety regulations. We are tackling the on-going threat of food related diseases by focusing on the various sectors that deal with food.”
"It is your responsibility to make sure you don’t serve expired foodstuffs to our children. You must produce food in a healthy and clean environment and ensure that you follow all the food safety regulations to promote safer food production and ensure that there are no incidents of children who have to be operated in theatres because they swallowed an earring that dropped into an uncovered pot while you were cooking,” said Cllr Buyeye.
NMBM Public Health Deputy Director Dr Patrick Nodwele said that the City was concerned about the population pyramid in the City, which shows that there are more adults than children in the City.
"We have noted with concern that the population pyramid in NMB shows an abnormal shape at the bottom, indicating that there are fewer children and more adults. We are supposed to have more children than older people if things are going well in our communities. The food safety aspect of our intervention seeks to find sustainable solutions for each sector and so it is important for food handlers in schools to be educated and trained to help curb food related illnesses, as our children spend most of their time at school,” said Nodwele.
Following the training, the City will be conducting inspection visits to ensure that the safety measures are being implemented in schools.
Ends.
Issued by the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality Communications Office.
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