Abide by food hygiene standards to protect human health - Mayor of Accra urges food vendors

The Chief Executive of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly(AMA), Hon Elizabeth Kwatsoe Tawiah Sackey has cautioned food vendors and handlers in Accra to abide by the high standards of food safety and hygiene to protect human health and avoid prosecution.

The Mayor of Accra said this on Friday in an address at the launch of a new branch of Nyonyo Canteen, a food service firm founded by Chichi Yakubu, a former HR professional at TNS, at the premises of the AMA Head Office named NyoNyo Kpatashi.

According to her, practicing good hygiene such as hand-washing, safer food handling, and food preparation methods, as well as keeping the cooking area cleaner would go a long way to protect the community against communicable food-borne diseases.

The AMA from the beginning of the year had prosecuted over 50 food vendors for selling food under unhygienic conditions without adhering to high standards of hygiene and without health certificates to help reduce the high incidence and consequences of foodborne diseases in the city and ensure the best practices for the production and serving of wholesome food.

Hon Elizabeth KT Sackey disclosed that as part of efforts to ensure that food patronized and consumed in the city was safe, the Public Health Department of the AMA had made conscious efforts to create public awareness on the effects of unsafe food, screened food vendors, embarked on several inspections as well as enforcement exercises to ensure food safety within the Metropolis.

She also noted that the newly opened AMA branch would serve a variety of local dishes to customers in the city adding that customers would have the option to either dine in, take away or order to be delivered.

Founder of Nyonyo, Chichi Yakubu, in a remark expressed commitment to continue living up to standards of excellence and quality service delivery at all levels and promised the best culinary experience.

"For a restaurant to succeed, these five essential elements must be present: Ingredients, menu, atmosphere, Reputation, and service. By expertly fusing these components to create the ultimate eating experience, you can achieve the last one, but it depends on how effectively you execute the others. As a result, we promise you the best culinary experience on behalf of my staff. Although challenging, we'll do our absolute best to execute it effectively, " she said.

"To succeed in any industry, it truly needs tenacity and effort. And honestly, with the hikes in prices and cost of doing business, the food and catering industry is now an extreme spot especially if you aim to not only provide great food for your clients but to also give others employment opportunities and contribute to economic growth.

Due to our exceptional service over the years, we have earned the title of people's "favorite neighborhood restaurant" because of our reputation for offering soulful meals and top-notch customer service.

"We at Nyonyo don't take the communities we work in nor the customers we serve for granted because we understand the consequences of that. So, to consistently achieve customer satisfaction, we take care to deliver on our promise to provide excellent catering services wrapped in quality service, professionalism, customer care, and precision in ensuring that all of our customers' nutritional needs are met under safe and strictly hygienic conditions, " she added.