Archive for category: Research and Society

HIGH AFLATOXIN LEVELS INVITE SCARE IN UGANDA

 

International trade among African countries witnessed a set back few year ago when  Kenya rejected 600 000 tons of maize from Uganda in 2018 due to poor quality and aflatoxin contamination. A report , by E Gourd  published in The Lancet early in 2023, further raised te alarm in Uganda. At the Kansas State University, researchers hinted of a rise i aflatoxin levels due to high temperatures ad drought, two conditions readily available in Africa. For more, please visit the 2 resources hereunder

Rising temps, drought likely to increase incidence of aflatoxin …

Kansas State University

https://www.ksre.k-state.edu › news › stories › 2023/04
17 Apr 2023 — Researchers estimate losses to triple by 2040 under current trends. April 17, 2023. By Pat Melgares, K-State Research and Extension news service.

High concentrations of aflatoxin in Ugandan grains sparks …

The Lancet

https://www.thelancet.com › lanonc › article › fulltext
by E Gourd2023 — “Kenya rejected 600 000 tons of maize from Uganda in 2018 due to poor quality and aflatoxin contamination,” he recalled, “amounting to $48·6 …
Dele Fapohunda
May 4, 2023

SIX FOOD SAFETY ONLINE TRAINING RESOURCES

Hello Food safety enthusiasts
Below, you find a list of 6 online resources that enhance your capacity with little or NO payment.
happy reading as you embrace the opportunity and make world aware  of the need to consume only wholesome food

5.TRAINEE COMPETENCY MANUAL: FOOD & BEVERAGE

Caribbean Tourism Organization

https://www.onecaribbean.org › uploads › Food…
Trainee Competency Manual – Food & Beverage. 6. UNIT 2 – FOOD AND BEVERAGE – FIRST LEVEL. PREPARE FOOD SERVICE ITEMS. THIS UNIT APPLIES TO SERVICE ITEMS …
99 pages

6.Restaurant Customer Service Training Manual Template

Template.net

https://www.template.net › editable › restaurant-custo…
Easily Editable, Printable, Downloadable. Customers going to your restaurant would expect great food and service from your staff. Be able to train your new …
Compiled  Dele Fapohunda
May 4 2023

Procedure for getting Food Handler Certificate in Nigeria

Procedure

  • A candidate shall check with their respective state, province or municipality on the latest updates and regulations on getting a food handler certificate.
  • The applicant may be asked to provide the blood sample along with the X-ray at the respective office for processing or the applicant may be asked to submit the blood report and X-ray as per the respective department norms.

Apply In-Person:

  1. In Nigeria, the food handlers should get certificate of food handlers through food handlers test / medical fitness tests. The candidate shall apply with the respective office of the “National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control – NAFDAC” (food safety and applied nutrition).
  2. Contact Link
  3. The candidate shall use the contact numbers from the given page as appropriate to find the respective institution to get the required training for this certificate or get certified.
  4. The candidate shall visit the respective office and meet the concerned authority. Don’t forget to take the required copy of documents along with originals to the office.
  5. The applicant shall follow the guidelines of the institution authority to get enrolled in the training.
  6. In general the applicant may be asked to complete the course and obtain a certificate or the applicant may be asked to attend a session on food hygiene as part of the certification process.
  7. Once the training is completed, the applicant will be required to provide samples (Sputum Test, Urine Test, Stool Test, Chest X-ray, Widal Test and Hepatise B) as per the department norms or provide the medical test results from the government approved labs or private labs for the Sputum Test, Urine Test, Stool Test, Chest X-ray, Widal Test and Hepatise B.
  8. Once the above steps are completed, the applicant will be audited by the external entity to get the certification.
  9. The applicant should pay for the training, medical test and other charges as appropriate.
  10. The applicant shall follow the guidelines of the institution to get the certificate as per applicable norms.
  11. The time period depends upon the training period and test result.

Required Documents

  • Application form
  • Valid citizen proof (respective ID’s issued by respective nation)
  • Applicant’s proof of identity (identity card / passport / driving licence)
  • A photocopy of the original certificate denoting completion of food handler’s course
  • Copy of fitness and medical certificate from a medical practitioner
  • Passport size photograph (taken not more than three months from the applying date – 6 copies)
  • Copy of passport
  • A self-addressed envelope with or without stamps (as per requirement)
  • Copy of the police record of the applicant as per requirement
Note: Apart from the above documents, the authorities may ask for additional information or documents. Please provide them for processing.

Office  Contact

Food Safety and Applied Nutrition,
FSAN Headquarters, Second Floor, NAFDAC Office Complex,
Plot 1, Isolo Industrial Estate, Oshodi-Apapa Expressway,
Isolo, Lagos.
Phone: +234(0) 906 095 6907
Email: foodsafety.nutrition@nafdac.gov.ng

 

Source =https://www.wikiprocedure.com/index.php/Nigeria_-_Apply_for_Food_Handler_Certificate#:~:text=Apply%20In%2DPerson%3A,food%20safety%20and%20applied%20nutrition).

May 4 2023

MUSHROOM AS SAFE, MEDICINAL AND NUTRITIOUS FOOD

 

MUSHROOMS

These are aerial expressions of vegetative(hyphal)growth of fungi in the substrate. The substrate may be decaying log of wood, tree bark or other dead organic matter Although its macroscopic expressions are now used for all human activities, including nutrition and medicine, it was not originally designed for these purposes. It is designed to bring to the open the spores in order to allow multiplication. The actual organism lives organically under the ground or inside wood, reveals presence only by fruiting. The aerial growth is a reaction to environmental stress, most times, nutrient stress

           

Benefits /significance

  • A. As food for man e g Agaricus spp, Pleurotus spp

1.Rich in protein, vitamin (B, B2, & C) and has many minerals. The nutritional content is located within the chitinous cell wall. Has no sodium, and cholesterol

Water content- 90%

  1. Protein- 3-4% (retained by N2 content x 6.25)

Dry weight- 20-35%

3.Contains all essential amino acids. Lysine, inadequate in cereals, is in abundance in mushrooms

4.Fat- unsaturated fatty acids (healthy to man) are in abundance is Linoleic acid

5.Vitamins and rich in minerals- Thiamine (B1),  Riboflavin (B2), Ascorbic acid (C), Niacin & Biotin, P, K. Na

6 Fresh mushroom contains fibres and carbohydrates

 

  • B. As medicine

1.lowers cholesterol level, reduces heart and coronary disease

2.suppresses the growth of tumours

3 controls effect of diabetes  eg Plenrotus, Lentinula

4.reduces infections through the production of antioxidants eg Ganodema, Auricalaria,

 

  • C. In environmental remediation
  1. neutralizing of polluted          or acidic soil

 

2.degrade lignin, hemicelluloses like  the basidiomycete white rot (lignin degrading) fungi.  The white rot fungi  can degrade lignin & hemicelluloses leading to the wood turning white, a process called bio-bleaching

3.break down poly aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH)e.g. Phanerochaetes chrysosporium and Coriolus versicolor– both produce extra cellular enzymes

 

  • D.Ancient people linked mushroom to the gods,
  • E.No arable land is needed for their cultivation
  • F.Agricultural  waste can be  turned to fertili

 

Edible mushrooms include-Agaricus bisporus (button mushroom), Pleurotus spp, Volvariella volvacea, (paddy straw mushroom)Lentinus edoides(shiitake). Others include Coprinus spp, Auricularia polytricha and the chanterrelle

Poisonous one are usually identified by their deep odour and excessive pigmentation(colouration) Examples are  Amanita phalloides(death cap),Coenocybe filaris, and Cortinarius species.

 

MUSHROOM ECOLOGY

Mushrooms are generally found in the Division basidiomycota although a few are located in the Ascomycota

They are mostly  saprophytes, symbionts, parasites, but they mostly combine at least two of these i.e symbionts also have saprophytic tendencies. Parasites change to saprophyte after host’s death.

Saprophytes are on dead wood, soil and decaying leaves and other organic materials. The margin and pileus can be used to describe a typical mushroom. The margins  can be Smooth, Crenate, striate or wavy . The pileus can also be smooth, velvety, raised scales, having patches or flat scales.

Looking for mushroom in the wild is called MUSHROOMING or MUSHROOM HUNTING It is the  practice of foraying for mushrooms in a defined area or habitat. They however, can live in diverse microhabitats within a particular ecosystem conferring limitations on their species diversity and number of stands.

The compost is pasteurized to kill the pathogens.

=In mushroom cultivation,  a form of single cell protein is being produced  because agricultural waste is recycled into food(SCP) and the remains serve as organic manure . About 3 weeks is needed to attain harvest of mushrooms. The mushroom grows in “flushes”(sing=flush) which is defined as the group of mushroom ready for harvest. Harvesting of mushroom is also called cropping. Flushes appear at approximately 7 days intervals until 4 or 5 flushes are harvested and the substrate is deemed spent and unproductive. At different stages of maturity the grower can harvest buttons(having unopened caps); or cups (with open caps) sometimes curving up and revealing full gills. 

The significance of mushrooms whether edible or poisonous, is rested on the culinary and medicinal advantage as well as their morbidity and mortality attractions when consumed by the uninformed. The species come in various colours, shapes, together with pileus and stipe configurations.

Amanita phalloides(death cap), Conocybe filaria and Cortinarius sp (web cap) are examples of poisonous mushroom. Edible  types include  Agaricus bisporus, Pleurotus species, Volvariella volvaceaLentinus eloides,  and Boletus sp.

 

Prospective  mushroom hunters must adopt the following safety rules before embracing any mushroom at all

1 For a confirmed  amateur, totally inexperienced in mushrooming, it is adviseable to stay away from any species  considered difficult to classify.

2 Ensure multiple sources for confirmation of status, before attempting to eat.

3.Do not rush at ‘look- alikes’. Some mushrooms that are considered edible in one region may have some similar forms which may draw an inexperienced person to them for consumption

4 At first, it is advisable to consume only a little of a fairly unclassified mushroom. Then watch reactions over time, even after, enough expert opinion considered such as safe

5.A mushroom that is very attractive in colour is  most likely a candidate for poisonous groups. Equally, those with strong odour must be avoided at first contact.

6 Most edible ones fall under ‘Little Brown Mushrooms’(LBM) group making any similar species, even when not yet confirmed, to be suspected as edible. The danger of such can be avoided by exercising great caution.

7 Avoid mushrooms that grow profusely in heavily polluted areas. They are accumulators of heavy metals, making them unsafe.

 

Dele Fapohunda

May 4 2023

ROLE OF ANTIMICROBIALS IN FOOD SAFETY

 

When a compound is applied to wipe out or control the multiplication of microbes in food or other matrices, the real  intention  is to attack the microbial enzymes, other proteins, the cell wall and other structures in the cytoplasm . Other targets may also be affected as the agent does its destructive duty.

Some factors ,may affect the effectiveness of the cidal agent. These include

1 Toxicity=This measures the power of elimination as captured in the compound. Sometimes the choice will reflect the possible toxicity on the human and environment. If the germicide is too dangerous to the extent of killing the human cells at the same rate it does microbial cells, then this is not to be chosen as an attractive intervention

2 Compatibility=This assesses the function of the agent with respect to the matrix.  Disinfectant or sterilant . One disinfectant that is good for canned food may not be compatible with hard surfaces like glass

3 Presence of organic matter in the surrounding. Sometimes the agent may be weakened by the presence of other matter. This must be taken into consideration when making a choice

4 Environmental safety. If the chemical is very dangerous through inhalation or touch by humans, there may a second thought when making a decision. Its no use endangering the environment, even when the microbe is being killed to stop food degradation

  1. Residual content. Every chemical is eventually expected to break down in to residues. For a germicide to qualify for choice, its residue must also be safe to the substrate
  2. Cost and availability. When an intervention, is beyond the reach of the end users, or not easily available, then it should not be chosen. Pocket friendly and readily available options are always attractive

 

Among the various classes of microbicides, there are

Alcohols, Halogens(e.g chlorine), Ethylene oxides, aldehydes , metal compounds like silver,  mercury and  copper salts, ozone and  Hydrogen peroxide

Kindly send comments or requests on Food Safety to

sfoodfeedf@gmail.com

234 8033709492

A ‘SAFE FOOD’ CHRISTMAS AND HEALTHY NEW YEAR

To all our READERS

We appreciate YOU. We celebrate YOU. We are here because you are there. For this, please accept our appreciation for reading our posts. Kindly send us materials like Notices  of Conferences, Seminars, Trade Fairs, International Vacancies,  Awards etc . Of course you all know that such MUST be in the area of FOOD SAFETY.

 

Keep your environment safe. KEEP your Food safe, this season. We cannot afford your stay in the hospital new year due to food borne morbidities

 

Finally please give us your advice and any other comment. We may even get them published

 

For advert placements, please contact us, as usual

 

At your service, always

 

Dele Fapohunda PhD

Founder

21 December, 2022

DID AGRA ACHIEVE ITS SET MANDATE IN AFRICA ??

The Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa AGRA, has been attracting negative comments of recent. The damning reports were coming left , right and centre. In the midst of this,  a change in its name is being, removing the strategic operative words—-Green Revolution. Many were curious and came up with a conclusion. In this report, T Wise and Jomo Kwame Sundaram  refer to the action as applying make up to a pig——it changes NOTHING   !!!!

Please read on

Gates, AGRA Double Down on Green Revolution

No one will deny that Bill Gates is persistent and determined, but those qualities also make him stubborn, and it makes him sound like a broken record when it comes to his signature Green Revolution for Africa. Despite a damning Gates-funded evaluation that confirmed many of my own findings of low productivity gains, weak poverty reduction, and worsening hunger, the Gates Foundation pledged $200 million to the initiative’s new five-year strategy.

It brings the foundation’s contribution to $900 million, the overwhelming majority of funding. Below, I join economist Jomo Kwame Sundaram to analyze AGRA’s stubborn commitment to its failing strategies and Gates’  stubborn faith that his technological solutions aren’t themselves causing problems.

Gates was in Nairobi recently for a staged Q&A event on agricultural innovation at the University of Nairobi. Civil society leader Anne Maina greeted him with her op-ed piece, “10 questions for Bill Gates on innovation, food security and climate change.” Needless to say, they remain unanswered. But he used his trip to defend the Kenyan government’s controversial decision to import genetically modified corn, offering a dissying spate of untruths, implying that all the corn and wheat he’s ever eaten is GM corn, and it’s safe because it’s been around for “billions of years.” (I’m not making that up, see the video clip here.) And don’t miss Russell Brand’s impressive send-up of Gates and AGRA based on a sign-on letter to Gates from some of our allies.

See my article below, and please consider supporting IATP with a generous donation. The institute stands on the cutting edge of so many of the struggles we face today, including critical work at the recent Climate Summit to highlight the contributions of industrial agriculture to climate change and the urgent need to embrace agroecology. I hope you will support this important work.
AGRA Gets Make-Up, Not Make-Over

Timothy A. Wise and Jomo Kwame Sundaram, IPS News, November 29, 2022

BOSTON and KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 29 2022 (IPS) – Despite its dismal record, the Gates Foundation-sponsored Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) announced a new five-year strategy in September after rebranding itself by dropping ‘Green Revolution’ from its name.

Rebranding, not reform
Instead of learning from experience and changing its approach accordingly, AGRA’s new strategy promises more of the same. Ignoring evidence, criticisms and civil society pleas and demands, the Gates Foundation has committed another $200 million to its new five-year plan, bringing its total contribution to around $900 million.

More than two-thirds of AGRA’s funding has come from Gates, with African governments providing much more – as much as a billion dollars yearly – in subsidies for Green Revolution seeds and fertilizers.

Stung by criticism of its poor results, AGRA delayed announcing its new strategy by a year, while its chief executive shepherded the controversial UN Food Systems Summit of 2021. Following this, AGRA has been using more UN Sustainable Development Goals rhetoric.

Hence, AGRA’s new slogan – ‘Sustainably Growing Africa’s Food Systems’. Likewise, the new plan claims to “lay the foundation for a sustainable food systems-led inclusive agricultural transformation”. But beyond such lip service, there is little evidence of any meaningful commitment to sustainable agriculture in the $550 million plan for 2023–27.

Despite heavy government subsidies, AGRA promotion of commercial seeds and fertilizers for just a few cereal crops failed to significantly increase productivity, incomes or even food security. But instead of addressing past shortcomings, the new plan still relies heavily on more of the same despite its failure to “catalyze” a productivity revolution among African farmers.

The supposedly new strategy dashes any hopes that AGRA or the Gates Foundation would acknowledge the harmful social and environmental effects of Green Revolutions in India, Africa and elsewhere. AGRA offered no explanation for why it dropped ‘Green Revolution’ from its name.

The name change suggests the 16-year-old AGRA wants to dissociate itself from past failures, but without acknowledging its own flawed approach. Recently, much higher fertilizer prices – following sanctions against Russia and Belarus after the Ukraine invasion – have worsened the lot of farmers relying on AGRA recommended inputs.

It is time to change course, with policies promoting ecological farming by reducing reliance on synthetic fertilizers as appropriate. But despite its new slogan, AGRA’s new strategy intends otherwise.

Last month, the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa rejected the strategy and name change as “cosmetic”, “an admission of failure” of the Green Revolution project, and “a cynical distraction” from the urgent need to change course.

Productivity gains and losses
Despite spending well over a billion dollars, AGRA’s productivity gains have been modest, and only for a few more heavily subsidized crops such as maize and rice. And from 2015 to 2020, cereal yields have not risen at all.

Meanwhile, traditional food crop production has declined under AGRA, with millet falling over a fifth. Yields actually also fell for cassava, groundnuts and root crops such as sweet potato. Across a basket of staple crops, yields rose only 18% in 12 years.

Farmer incomes have not risen, especially after increased production costs are taken into account. As for halving hunger, which Gates and AGRA originally promised, the number of ‘severely undernourished’ people in AGRA’s 13 focus countries increased by 31%!

donor-commissioned evaluation confirmed many adverse farmer outcomes. It found the minority of farmers who benefited were mainly better-off men, not smallholder women the programme was ostensibly meant for.

That did not deter the Gates Foundation from committing more to AGRA despite its dismal track record, failed strategy, and poor monitoring to track progress. Judging by the new five-year plan, we can expect even less accountability.

The new plan does not even set measurable goals for yields, incomes or food security. As the saying goes, what you don’t measure you don’t value. Apparently, AGRA does not value agricultural productivity, even though it is still at the core of the organization’s strategy.

Last month, the Rockefeller Foundation, AGRA’s other founding donor and a leader of the first Green Revolution from the 1950s, announced a reduction in its grant to AGRA and a decisive step back from the Green Revolution approach.

Its grant to AGRA supports school feeding initiatives and “alternatives to fossil-fuel derived fertilisers and pesticides through the promotion of regenerative agricultural practices such as cultivation of nitrogen-fixing beans”.

Business in charge
AGRA’s new strategy is built on a series of “business lines”, e.g., the “sustainable farming business line” will coordinate with the “Seed Systems business line” to sell inputs. Private Village Based Advisors are meant to provide training and planting advice in this privatized, commercial reincarnation of the government or quasi-government extension services of an earlier era.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization successfully promoted peer-learning of agro-ecological practices via Farmer Field Schools after successfully field-testing them. This came about after research showed ‘brown hoppers’ thrived in Asian rice farms after Green Revolution pesticides eliminated the insect’s natural predators.

China lost a fifth of its 2007-08 paddy harvest to the pest, triggering a price spike in the thinly traded world rice market. Seeking help from the International Rice Research Institute, located in the Philippines, a Chinese delegation found its Entomology Department had lost most of its former capacity due to under-funding.

Earlier international agricultural research collaboration associated with the first Green Revolution – especially in wheat, maize and rice – seems to have collapsed, surrendering to corporate and philanthropic interests. This bitter experience encouraged China to step up its agronomic research efforts with a greater agro-ecological emphasis.

Empty promises?
The new strategy promises “AGRA will promote increased crop diversification at the farm level”. But its advisers cum salespeople have a vested interest in selling their wares, rather than good local seeds which do not require repeat purchases every planting season.

AGRA is not strengthening resilience by promoting agroecology or reducing farmer reliance on costly inputs such as fossil fuel fertilizers and other, often toxic, agrochemicals. Despite many proven African agroecological initiatives, support for them remains modest.

The new strategy stresses irrigation, key to most other Green Revolutions, but conspicuously absent from Africa’s Green Revolution. But the plan is deafeningly silent on how fiscally strapped governments are to provide such crucial infrastructure, especially in the face of growing water, fiscal and debt stress, worsened by global warming.

It is often said stupidity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results. Perhaps this is due to the technophile conceit that some favoured innovation is superior to everything else, including scientific knowledge, processes and agro-ecological solutions.

Keep up with the ongoing efforts to persuade the Gates Foundation, USAID, and other donors to move beyond the Green Revolution to support agroecology.

All comments to T.Wise and Jomo Kwame Sundaram
Dele  Fapohunda

30 Nov 2022

SAFE FOOD — AWARENESS ON FOOD LOSS AND WASTE, SEPT 29

Every year the UN has set aside Sept 20 to create awareness on the role of food loss and waste in the determining  Food security across the world. In your local area, please interact with the people and sensitize them on the need to reduce waste and make the earth sustainable

For further details, visit

International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste | FAO

Dele Fapohunda
Sept 25, 2022

 

Handling foods that require freezing

The Better Health Channel, Victoria, Australia has prepared a guideline for safe handling of certain special food in store. Please read on

Freezing food safely

1. When shopping, buy chilled and frozen foods at the end of your trip and take them home to store as quickly as possible. On hot days or for trips longer than 30 minutes, try to take an insulated cooler bag or ice pack to keep frozen foods cold. Keep hot and cold foods separate while you take them home.

When you arrive home, put chilled and frozen foods into the fridge or freezer immediately. Make sure foods stored in the freezer are frozen hard.
Storing cooked food safely

2. When you have cooked food and want to cool it:

Put hot food into shallow dishes or separate into smaller portions to help cool the food as quickly as possible.
Don’t put very hot food into the refrigerator. Wait until steam has stopped rising from the food before putting it in the fridge.

3. Avoid refreezing thawed food

Food poisoning bacteria can grow in frozen food while it is thawing, so avoid thawing frozen food in the temperature danger zone. Keep defrosted food in the fridge until it is ready to be cooked. If using a microwave oven to defrost food, cook it immediately after defrosting.

4. As a general rule, avoid refreezing thawed food. Food that is frozen a second time is likely to have higher levels of food poisoning bacteria. The risk depends on the condition of the food when frozen, and how the food is handled between thawing and refreezing. Raw food should never be refrozen once thawed.
Store raw food separately from cooked food

5. Raw food and cooked food should be stored separately in the fridge. Bacteria from raw food can contaminate cold cooked food, and the bacteria can multiply to dangerous levels if the food is not cooked thoroughly again.

6. Always store raw food in sealed or covered containers at the bottom of the fridge. Keep raw foods below cooked foods, to avoid liquid such as meat juices dripping down and contaminating the cooked food.
Choose strong, non-toxic food storage containers

7. Make sure your food storage containers are clean and in good condition, and only use them for storing food. Cover them with tight-fitting lids, foil or plastic film to minimise potential contamination. Transfer the contents of opened cans into suitable containers.
8. If in doubt, throw it out!

Throw out high-risk food left in the temperature danger zone for more than 4 hours – don’t put it in the fridge and don’t keep it for later. Check the use-by dates on food products and discard out-of-date food. If you are uncertain of the use-by date, throw it out.

AVOID FOOD BORNE DISEASES

For further comments , please contact Email: betterhealthchannel@health.vic.gov.au

Appreciation to BetterHealthChannel

Dele Fapohunda PhD
21 June 2022

Mesothelioma Cancer, An Update

Mesothelioma is a rare cancer caused from exposure to asbestos that takes 20-50 years to develop. It’s extremely important to spread awareness of this type of cancer, because it is common for a misdiagnosis. That’s why a guide that includes the symptoms of mesothelioma, the diagnosis process, treatment options, and much more, has beeb prepared. Its a must read

Kindly be guided as you check the following link which is already on our website =www.sfoodfeedf.org=

lanierlawfirm.com/mesothelioma/

We appreciate Jacob Bryant for this excellent information

All comments, reactions and suggestions to be directed to

Jacob Bryant

a:
jbryant@lanier-outreach.com
Lanier Law Firm, 10940 W. Sam Houston Pkwy N, Suite 100 Houston, TX 77064
www.lanierlawfirm.com

Dele Fapohunda PhD
04 June, 2022

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