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L-R:
Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Health (LSMOH), Dr 'Modele
Osunkiyesi; Director, Occupational Health and Staff Health Services, LSMOH, Dr.
Kubby Layeni-Adeyemo at Inaugural Meeting of the Food Hygiene and Safety
Inter-Ministerial Committee held at Alausa-Ikeja, Lagos recently.
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The Lagos State Government has
established four main Sub-committees for the implementation of activities on
food safety in line with National guidelines and International best practices.
Special Adviser to the Governor on
Primary Health Care, Dr. Olufemi Onanuga disclosed this in a keynote address at
the maiden meeting of the State Food Safety and Hygiene Management Committee
held on Friday, 24th November 2017 at Folarin Coker Staff Clinic
Auditorium, Alausa, Ikeja.
Onanuga who listed the
sub-committees to include Advocacy and Social Mobilization, Training and
Capacity Building, Partnership and Resource Mobilization and Monitoring and
Evaluation, added that the committees are expected to develop operational
activities in line with the National Policy on Food Safety and its
Implementation Strategy as well as International best practices.
“I hope that the reports of
activities of this committee will help to develop a very strong basis for
enviable implementation strategy that will be all-encompassing and achieve the
desired result of ensuring safe food for all Lagosians,” he remarked.
He stated that the National Policy
on Food Safety and its Implementation Strategy is a document that has been
clearly developed along with its implementation framework by the Federal
Ministry of Health in conjunction with Food and Agriculture Organization of the
United Nations (FAO), which according to him was also complemented with
extensive training of both the inspectors and food handling establishments in
the six geo-political divisions of the nation.
He recalled that the Lagos State
Food Safety and Hygiene Management Committee was inaugurated in 2016
specifically to delineate functions of all regulatory stakeholders and put in
place monitoring mechanism to ensure standards at all levels.
He stated that since the
inauguration of the committee, the Ministry has embarked on various activities
to strengthen its food safety programs through active routine inspection of
food handling/processing establishments and implementation of Hazard Analysis
and Critical Control Points (HACCP).
“HACCP is a systematic preventive
approach to food safety from biological, chemical, and physical hazards in
production processes.
It designs measurements to reduce
these risks to a safe level by putting in place stringent actions and strictly
monitoring and controlling each process,” he remarked.
The Special Adviser observed that
there has been a tremendous growth in inspection coverage of the food handling
industry in the State as a total of 1,651 inspections were carried out in 2016
representing 63% coverage against 55% coverage recorded in 2015.
While giving his assurances that
the level of coverage in 2017 would be better, he noted that food establishments
in Lagos State have already embraced the implementation of HACCP and all its
pre-requisite programmes with a view to assuring safe food for all Lagosians at
all levels.
Earlier in its welcome address,
the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Dr. Modele Osunkiyesi emphasized that
the Committee was established in line with the National Policy on Food Safety
and Hygiene, adding that the State has been implementing its activities
accordingly to put all food establishments on their toes so as to protect the
unsuspecting members of the public.
The highpoint of the meeting was a
lecture on “Food Safety and Hygiene Programme in Lagos State” delivered by the
Director, Occupational Health and Staff Services in the Ministry, Dr. Layeni
Adeyemo.
At the meeting were stakeholders
from the Ministries of Agriculture, Economic Planning and Budget and Ministry
of Information and Strategy.
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