According to the Ayawaso-East Municipal Assembly, only certified vendors will be permitted to sell food within the Municipality.
According to Mr. Sherif Hamdawaiy, Assistant Environmental Officer of the Assembly, the step was taken to ensure public safety due to the risks to health posed by the sale of unwholesome food.
He urged the citizens to assist the Assembly in its job by alerting the authorities to any food vendor who is operating without the proper accreditation.
In an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA), Accra, Mr. Hamdawaiy stated that the authorities would regularly examine food vendors to make sure they complied with the safety requirements.
“What we do is organize mass health screenings every year on the health status of the food vendors in the municipality to ensure that they are all tested before they are certified to sell food in the area,’’ he emphasized.
This follows the recent deaths of five people and the hospitalization of forty others in Oyibi, in the Greater Accra Region, after they allegedly ate the native delicacy “waakye” from a vendor.
The terrible occurrence that took place on Friday, January 20, this year has forced the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) to launch a massive operation to cleanse the streets of food vendors and traders who aren’t properly licensed.