To promote and ensure healthier and safe environment for food vendors in the state, the Delta State Government said it has concluded plans to enforce compliance with environmental sanitation laws on food and hygiene.
This was contained in a statement signed by the state Commissioner for Environment, M. Ejiro Jamani, where he stated that the ministry had commissioned compliance with environmental agents to ensure standards among food vendors and operators and roadside food vendors across the 25 local government areas in the state.
The commissioner disclosed that the ministry has commissioned agents, who should be responsible for profiling, sanitizing and regulating the activities of the above sector on behalf of the ministry. According to him, the agents would be responsible for ensuring that the vendors grill operators and roadside sellers to comply with the ministry’s recommended standards on sanitation and hygiene in their daily operations.
From all indications, the initiative is another milestone by Governor Oborevwori administrations to ensure good health and welfare of the citizens of the state, thereby following Lagos State example in the giant step of governance.
Food vendors known in the local parlance as “Mama Put” or is also slangs for street food hawkers. It can be easily found everywhere and around the corners of the cities. It is local restaurant often found on the streets and it cheaper than proper restaurants.
A food vendor or “mama put as the name implies prepares and sells ready to eat food to the public and vending typically takes place at food concessions at sporting or event arenas, fairs and festivals and some of them operate from a food truck that serves at different locations. This includes but no limited to restaurants, bar, grocery stores, bakeries, public and private schools, among others.
What comes to mind whenever ‘mama Put” is mentioned is the hygiene of the preparation and service of the food and this calls to question why food vendors should be monitored by the necessary regulatory agencies?
Beside every standard, implementing food hygiene practices following food safety guidelines and monitoring good quality can significantly reduce the risk of food borne diseases. With food security, everyone has access to the daily nutrient requirements and can therefore live a healthy and productive life. With good health comes increase in productivity which subsequently causes the growth of the economy of a nation and helps to alleviate and create jobs for people.
Also, monitoring helps to identify any potential issues, track progress and measure outcomes. Through monitoring and evaluation, organizations can access the effectiveness of their strategies, identify areas of improvement and ensure that their goals and objectives are met.
It is wide known that people who patronize street food vendors need to be aware of the dangers of eating or buying food prepared in an unclean environment because such foods could be contaminated with microorganisms, which are present in the air, water and hands of those who sell or prepared them. Although, there is unverified but loosed claim that “germ no dey kill Africa man “.
People normally patronize “mama Put “simply because they are too hungry to find a proper restaurant or possibly do not have enough money to go to a proper restaurant; they are in a haste or too busy to wait for the waiters to take their orders or that they just love to taste the food because their meals taste like home cooking.
There are, however, some assumptions that street foods are not actually good because most of the times, they lack proper hygiene when preparing it and again many of the vendor’s are not monitored while some people even buy the food based on recommendations.
It is said that one man’s meat is another man’s poison; it is on the basis of this assumption that Lifestyle sought the views of some persons on the necessity to monitor the quality of foo from the stables of Mama Put and other quality concepts.
A health enthusiast, Susan Oteju in collaboration with the Lagos State Ministry of Health, Environment and Water Resources recently organised a press briefing to sensitise over 150 street food vendors and hawkers in Lagos.
Oteju, who is the Founder of Mama Cart Food Safety Concepts said that sensitization of people who operate ” Mama Put “was essential given the fact that people are what they eat and by virtue of what one eats (especially in the mornings,) one can end up achieving little or nothing during the day because the food we eat has the capacity to affect our physical, psychological and mental health.
Mrs. Oteju stressed that it was high time people gave serious attention to what goes into their mouths because what goes into the body tells a lot about the man or woman.
She said that through research, it was discovered that most street vendors need to be sensitized on personal hygiene, environmental cleanliness and proper kitchen management.
She frowned at the disposition of most people towards what they eat, how they eat, the environment where they eat and what time they eat and noted that if diligence and precaution are not regarding what people eat and drink, a whole lot of things would go wrong.
In his assessment of the issue, one Roland Okafor, a retired civil servant, said that Delta State Government should be commended for such bold step in such a time of hardship were people go for anything due to hunger.
He stated that the policy commendable but added that to achieve or ensure implementation is however, is serious challenge, adding that like many other things, he hoped the government would be able to achieve its aims and objectives on the matter.
Mr. Okafor noted that the policy would help to check a lot of sicknesses now prevalent in the society, especially typhoid and cholera among other diseases and wish the Government well in that direction.
What is most important however, he said is the need to safeguard public health which is lacking now.
He said; “my friend, let’s be frank on this matter. If one follows what and how those food Vendors prepare their foods, nobody will patronize them. But often times, because of hunger, we close our eyes on so many things and fill our stomach; more so now where there is little or no food to eat “.
