Gambia: CPAG Harps on Street Vended Foods

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FOROYAA Newspaper (Serrekunda)

20 March 2008
Posted to the web 20 March 2008

Amie Sanneh
Serrekunda

In The Gambia, the preparation and storage of food, in general, pose some potential risks of chemical and microbiological contamination. Thus, street foods have been linked to instances of food poisoning outbreaks.

It is against this background that the Consumer Protection Association of The Gambia (CPAG) was established to protect the rights of consumers. CPAG, on Saturday, joined the rest of its counterparts in other countries to commemorate World Consumer Rights Day (WCRD) at the NaNA conference hall. The theme for this year's commemoration is "Junk Food Generation", the campaign to stop the marketing of unhealthy food to children and other consumers.

Speaking on the occasion, the Principal Program Officer at NaNA, Mrs. Oulaye Njie Taal, gave an overview of the results of a survey which was conducted on street vended foods in The Gambia. Mrs. Njie Taal said according to the report, personal hygiene of most street food vendors is unsatisfactory. "Dirty clothes are worn during preparation and at times during sale," she said. She added that bad practices like picking or blowing one's nose, spitting in the open, etc, are some of the unhygienic habits that are common among vendors. "Washing of hands before preparation and during handling of cooked food is also not a common practice," says Mrs. Njie Taal.

She maintained that in most cases the same water for washing and rinsing used utensils is used repeatedly." It is common to find used utensils and equipment left standing for hours attracting flies and dust," she remarked. Madam Njie Taal said that, here in The Gambia, unhygienic practices are further complicated by the fact that the environments in which most foods are prepared tends to be unsanitary, poorly constructed, lack of good drainage and proper disposal of waste system. She maintained that adequate portable water is usually not accessible to the sites where food is prepared or sold, that this is one of the problems associated with food handling practices.

"Whenever food is being prepared water is needed for washing the foodstuff, cooking the food, washing utensils and used cutleries on time for incoming customers and washing of hands" said Mrs. Njie Taal.

She added that for vendors who sell more than one food item, the preparation is made in the evening before and poorly stored for the next day and that much is left to be desired regarding the state of the utensils that are used. Mrs. Njie Taal explained that the cooking utensils and vessels that they prepare and put food in used in are usually old, dented, rusty and in poor state of repairs.

She, however, said that no adequate regulatory machinery is put in place to address street foods and its related problems.

The report, amongst others, recommends the formation of street food vendor associations and which will provide representatives to deal with the authorities and to motivate the implementation of improved street food practices by the vendors.

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