INTRODUCTION
This is a fourth quarter monitoring report of food and drinks handlers in the New Juaben North Municipality. It covers activities of all fields staff in relation to compliance to food hygiene and safety. This fourth quarter monitoring is done to access the level of impact of the pervious monitoring exercise.
The exercise started by meeting with the fields staff for a short review of the previous work and develop indicators to measure level of compliance as compared to January 2022.
The monitoring was carried out in the five (5) zonal areas namely Effiduase, Asokore, Akwadum, Oyoko and Jumapo by Environmental health field workers some MPCU members and other stake holders. The monitoring exercise was carried out on the 22 of December 2022.
METHODOLOGY/APPROACHES
The following tactics and approaches were employed during the exercise:
- Spot check
- Random sampling of vendors
- Health promotion
| S/N | INDICATOR | LEVEL OF COMPLIANCE |
| 1 | Compliance to environmental cleanliness by chop bars/ restaurants | High |
| 2 | Compliance to environmental cleanliness by slaughter house | Average |
| 3 | Compliance to environmental cleanliness by open market | High |
| 4 | Compliance to environmental cleanliness by school canteen | High |
| 5 | Compliance to medical screening by school feeding canteen | High |
| 6 | Compliance to medical screening by school food vendors | High |
| 7 | Compliance to COVID-19 Protocols | High |
OBSERVATIONS
- What we observed during this period was that, there was an increase in compliance to food safety and hygiene practices among especially school canteens and street food hawkers and provision shops.
MONITORING FOLLOW UP ACTIONS
The food and drink handlers that tested positive were followed up to make sure they don’t continue selling until they undergo treatment at health facility and then retested negative before clarify to continue their business.
CHALLENGES
- Inadequate means of transportation for field staff has always been the reason for the shortfall in monitoring of food and drink vendors or handlers in the Assembly.
RECOMMENDATIONS
- Collaboration efforts between GES, GHS, FDA and the environmental health and sanitation should be encouraged in the monitoring of the food and drink handlers.
- There should be transport for field officers to make monitoring of food vendors more effective.
CONCLUSION
Continuous health education and follow up to ascertain the health status of those who tested positive will be done to ensure that they meet the requirement of food safety regulations before handling food or drinks for public consumption.