FOOD SAFETY ALERT: FOOD HANDLING AND MARKETING.

 

A concerned citizen sent me this picture, he was wondering why these butchers were washing goats in this dirty water.

A more intense look at the picture will show various activities going on here: 1) slaughtering is going on beside the 2 buildings.

2)Ponmo processing also ongoing.

3) A processor is carrying  processed hides, another processor fetching this same dirty water for processing.

4) A table with processed hides and some quarters.

5) Horns and other wastes generated from slaughtering.

6) Did you notice the person sitting on the white bucket? guess what the person is doing?

 Do you know where these animal parts are been sold? Are you sure of what you are eating?

 Stay safe always, buy only  #beef, #beef-products certified wholesome from markets traceable to registered abattoirs only.

A thousand and one things are wrong with this picture. Food safety is everybody's business,stay safe.

This picture was taken by this concerned citizen while in traffic on the long bridge.

 

FARM INSPECTION POST COVID-19.

In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, a lot of lifestyle changes were enforces to curb the spread of the virus.
    The most important is the lock down restrictions which reduced movements within and outside states, countries and this affected farm visits.

   These restrictions is also accompanied with social distancing, wearing of masks and the washing of hands. Biosecurity protocols on farms follow these stringent rules to curb the spread of the Corona virus, now the issue of inspection on farms is a game changer.

  The Corona virus pandemic has raised the bar on biosecurity, so how will farmers engage veterinarians?

 New technologies must be employed to ensure safety of animals and farmers. Technologies designed to help farmers overcome COVID-19 restrictions may have longer-term value changing the face of farm inspections.


    This is where using phones, data, and an interactive platform will come in handy. Telecommunications is not only to ensure food security but food safety as well.

   Farm visitation, assessment and health status check of animals can be done remotely using technological innovation.  Pre- Covid-19, the use of cameras,cctv, monitors on farms was limited but post Covid-19,this will be the new norm.

   Farms can be accessed using monitors and certain sensors to check health status of animals, this will limit human and vehicular traffic. This is precision livestock farming: hands-free model to promote biosecurity.

   Read :Red Tractor innovation . Red Tractor may offer a model for others where a physical presence may no longer be possible or necessary. Standard Red Tractor assessments in the U.K. came to halt in March, but pandemic or no pandemic, the scheme needed to ensure that its members were adhering to its standards.

   It now does this through what it has termed “virtual eyes” Rather than accept an inspector on farm, members of the scheme can now be checked via one of two ways.

 One option requires members to submit documentation for pre-assessment which is then followed by a partial assessment using live-streaming technologies to produce a real-time farm inspection.

Alternatively, the entire assessment – reviewing paperwork and a visual inspection – can be streamed live with an assessor.

FOOD SAFETY FROM FARM TO FORK.

 FOOD SAFETY

Governments must play active role in food safety.

  Governments have an important role to play in food safety to ensure it gets the attention and investment it deserves, according to a senior food standards officer with the Codex Alimentarius secretariat..

  This means that a government needs to have a strong food control system. For many countries this is still a challenge, they are still working toward having the appropriate infrastructure not only to establish regulations for food but to implement them and help food producers to know what they are supposed to do. 

  They can also play a role in bringing together the different players and sectors along the food chain and making sure everyone is aware of the importance of food safety,” Cahill said.

   WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said every year unsafe food is responsible for thousands of deaths, which are all preventable.

  “This year’s World Food Safety Day is a reminder that we can all play a role in making food safer. From the time food is grown and transported to when people are shopping and preparing meals each of these is a chance to prioritize food safety. 

     “Food production is a chain of events, it starts even before the farm as some of the inputs such as animal feed also contribute to the safety of food. We have to look at what happens at the farm, what happens after that in terms of harvesting, what happens then in terms of processing and transformation of the crops or animal products and then the transportation and retail sectors.

    At all of those points there is an opportunity for our food to be contaminated and become unsafe.

AGRIBUSINESS:Food security and safety.

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Farmers embracing climate smart agriculture.

Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) is agriculture that increases productivity, resilience and adaptation, as well as contribute towards reducing the emission of greenhouse gases. 

 The overall objective therefore is food security and nutrition in the face of climate change. There must be training,education and interactive sessions especially for smallholder farmers ,the importance of building capacity at all levels cannot be overemphasized order to attain the goal of 25 million African farmers practicing climate-smart agriculture by 2025. 

 The challenge of climatic changes can be sidelined by using more resilient seeds, conservation of water, use of hybrid seeds that are ready for market earlier than the conventional seeds. Africa is affected dramatically by climatic changes of extreme weather patterns mechanisms ,hence there is the need to transform agriculture and ensure food security through adoption of innovative ways are gaining prominence fast.

 In Kenya, like most African countries, small-scale farmers who are the majority are opting for sustainable solutions. One such farmer is Albert Waweru, a retired police officer with 1.75-acre farm in Kasarani on the outskirts of Nairobi. He has 50 dairy cows that produce 290 liters of milk daily. He also rears poultry, dairy goats and has several green houses where vegetables are grown. 

 He practices smart agriculture as he harvests every drop of rainwater to counter the challenge of water, he embarked on harvesting rainwater from rooftops in his compound and store water flowing into his compound.

The water is preserved in a network of several underground concrete tanks about 12 meters deep. This ensures that he has enough water at any moment on his mixed farm, for his animals and plants as well. He has been sharing his method with other farmers to expose them to smart agriculture by way of provision of solution to water scarcity

. 44-year-old Rajiv Kumar from Sheikhpur district of Bihar is another farmer practicing smart agriculture; he does zero budget farming on his 4-acre farm. He learnt water conservation and methods to replace nutrients in the soil ,different crops are grown at the same time and cow dung and cow urine were used as fertilizers. 

This kept the cost of farming at a minimum with the farmer only investing in water and seeds. Rajiv dug pits every 30 feet, filled it with water, and sowed different types of flowers and fruits around it. This helped increase the ground water flow. As plants need moisture, and not water, cultivating near a pit of water provided better irrigation and prevented water wastage. He does not use chemical pesticides, he sows a Neem plant every 30 feet to keep pests away. see

GOLDEN RICE AND VITAMIN A.

Golden rice is a form of rice with biosynthesis of beta-carotene (a form of vitamin A). In other words, golden rice is produced through genetic engineering. Beta-carotene gives golden rice its “golden” or “yellow” coloring. White rice, on the other hand, does not contain carotenoids (i.e. beta carotene) and therefore lacks that “golden” coloring. When you consume golden rice, the beta-carotene either accumulates in your fatty tissues or is transformed into vitamin A. It is important to understand that golden rice is genetically modified rice (GMO). It is a fortified food that is produced to combat a vitamin A deficiency in areas where this vitamin is scarce. More and more people are being diagnosed with a vitamin A deficiency. In fact, young children are the most vulnerable to vitamin-related deficiencies. Approximately 1 million children die of a vitamin A deficiency each year. A vitamin A deficiency can severely affect a child’s eyesight; weaken his/her immune system function and increase his/her risk of chronic conditions. Moreover, in underdeveloped countries, approximately half-a-million people, mostly children, develop blindness, associated with a vitamin A deficiency. Approximately 50% of those diagnosed with this type of deficiency-related blindness die a year or two after becoming blind (Wright, Hinchliffe & Adams, 2005). To make matters worse, approximately 10 million children suffer from malnutrition every year. In severe cases, the malnutrition turns deadly (Wright, Hinchliffe & Adams, 2005). The production of new varieties of crop not only ensure food security,but also produce disease resistant strains and crops with medical advantages.The road to food security is mapped by biotech and integration of these techniques in plant and animal production.