There is need to have food standards and follow them judiciously, Minister of Health, Dr. Edwin Dikoloti said this week at the fifth World Food Safety Day commemoration.

He emphasised that Batswana need to be more informed about food safety standards and always demand safer and high quality food. He said this at the backdrop of recent concerns of incidents of food safety scares and misconduct in vegetable retail chains.

Among the incidents, was the use of effluent water on leafy vegetables and the sale of unlabelled food products, which have underpinned the importance of ensuring compliance to rules and regulations by all players in the food chain space. Dr. Dikoloti said this could ensure the flow of safer foods in people’s daily lives.

“The two incidents have reminded us that we need to do more to ensure food safety, in order to safeguard the health of our people. This we cannot achieve alone. We need a multipronged approach since food safety cuts across disciplines and even government ministries and departments,” he said.

This year’s commemoration was held under the theme, ‘ Food Standards Save Lives’ and Dr. Dikoloti emphasised that it was appropriate and fitting, as it seeks to not only raise awareness on the importance of prevention, detection, and management of risks through food safety practices, but also seeks to influence consumer food choices.

“It goes beyond promoting debates, solutions, and ways to improve human health, trade, agriculture, and sustainable development, but the day serves as a pleasant reminder that food safety is fundamental to human health and therefore, every human being has the right to nutritious and safe food,” added Dr. Dikoloti. He further said as per this year’s theme people should be alert and maintain high standards on food safety.

“We cannot overemphasize the importance of food safety and food hygiene in ensuring that the production and handling of food is safe for consumption,” said Dr. Dikoloti, adding that in accordance with the One- Health approach, safe food begins with better agricultural production, following good agricultural practices ( GAP). This he said also shows the indelible connection between the health of the people and that of plants, animals, and the environment, which in turn improves the nutritional status of the population. Therefore, there is need to have food standards, and follow them judiciously.

He also shared that in alignment with priority number four of President Dr. Mokgweetsi Masisi’s reset agenda on Value Chain Addition, his ministry is re- orienting activities on the national food safety system, in collaboration with food business operators and other stakeholders to improve the sustainable production and consumption of safe foods. He said that, their expectation is for this initiative to go a long way in helping to improve health outcomes in this country. “We have no doubt that this can be realized through partnering with the food industry sector in the area of standards adoption and certification of food systems,” said Dr Dikoloti.

On the other hand, his Ministry’s collaboration with the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development on ensuring stringent assessment of food manufacturing license applications for food safety requirements, assessment of food labelling for compliance to regulations, conduct of inspections at food premises and the coordination of systematic recalls of non- compliant food products wishes to achieve greatest results in food safety.

Dr Dikoloti also applauded Food and Agriculture Organization ( FAO) and World Health Organization ( WHO) on the 60th anniversary of the Codex Alimentarius Commission since inception. “We celebrate the establishment of food standards for defining the path to safe food for everyone everywhere,” he said, reiterating that adherence to food safety standards and practices is a must for everyone.

“The population’s health and longevity depends on the safety and quality of the food they eat,” Dr. Dikoloti said, further encouraging people to be cautious with food care in general.