Research More on Food Security – Gov Amosun Tells Varsities
The Executive Governor of Ogun State, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, has charged researchers and scholars in the University to embark on researches that would alleviate the challenges of food security and safety in the country. Senator Amosun, who gave this charge during the “Food Safety for Nutritionists and other Professionals” programme held in the University in partnership with the International Life Science Institute, University of Ghana, Legon (ILSI-UGL), noted that this year’s theme for the World Health Day, “From Farm to Fork”, highlighted the global concerns for food safety, amplified the emerging threat from food-borne diseases and showed that there was still the need for concerted efforts at stemming the menace of food-borne disease in the society.
The Governor, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary, Ogun State Ministry of Health, Dr. Daisi Odeniyi, stated that there had been an increase in the upsurge of food-borne diseases due to the consumption of contaminated food items such as vegetables, beans, and other products, which could result in sudden death, because the basic principles of hygiene were not followed, while producing such food items.
Senator Amosun noted that there was the need to educate people on the dangers of eating unwholesome food, adding that the State Ministry of Agriculture regularly inspects abattoirs to certify that they were fit for the processing of meat for human consumption. According to him, residues and fruits were subjected to laboratory analysis, while the State Ministry of Health also got some brands of sachets of packed water, popularly called “pure water”, to undergo the same laboratory analysis. From the results, it was found that a reasonable number of the things that were being consumed were not up to standard, hence the need to train and retrain sachet water producers, bakers, food vendors and others, to address unhygienic food processing procedures. The Ogun State Governor congratulated FUNAAB for organising what he described as the timely and apt workshop, noting that the University was a hub of academic excellence, as he expressed his administration’s willingness to share from the reservoir of University’s research efforts.
The Programme Co-ordinator in Nigeria, Professor Folake Henshaw, stated that the “Food Safety for Nutritionists, and other Health Professionals” programme had been going on in the University of Ghana and was facilitated by the International Life Sciences Institute to disseminate knowledge on food safety and nutrition. According to her, “the global concept now is food safety along the production chain, that is, from farm to fork and from the production to the consumer, with safety all along the chain”.
Professor Henshaw noted that food safety had become an important issue in the global arena as the emerging threats to food safety include chemical, biological and physical hazards and, therefore, the need for volumes of scientific knowledge to be disseminated to practitioners and operators along the chain. She disclosed further that the programme, under the ILSI-UGL Centre, had other programmes and courses, noting that this would be the first time such would be coming out of Ghana, while FUNAAB was the first University in Nigeria to host the programme. 
The Programme Co-ordinator expressed her happiness that the facilitation had made the course affordable, as 11 postgraduate students got a 50 percent rebate to attend the programme. “FUNAAB is known for excellence and in line with our core values of integrity, global relevance, innovation and service to humanity, we believe that such trainings like this is what we should be doing”, she added. 
The Programme Manager, Professor Tano Debra, recalled that the programme started in Ghana in 2007 when his University received a call from the Industry Council for Development, a United Kingdom-based Non-governmental Organisation, which actually wanted to replicate the programme they had been running in South East Asia, as well as in Africa for about 15 years. He said a centre was later set up and was given the mandate to set up more centres in Africa and create Ambassadors of Food Safety, so that when people travelled outside their regions, they can feel safe to eat the food that were served there.
Stressing the importance of setting up a network of food safety in the region, Professor Tano Debra said when there were outbreaks of epidemics such as Ebola, Avian flu, Swine flu and Mad Cow diseases, people would not need to stop eating bush meat, poultry birds, beef and pork, because the Ambassadors of Food Safety would have been able to put measures in place to handle locally-produced meat and thus contributing to food security initiatives.
Earlier, the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Olusola Oyewole, who was represented by the Dean, College of Food Science and Human Ecology (COLFHEC), Professor Lateef Sanni, said that the University’s tripodal mandate comprised teaching, research and extension services, while adding that the programme was in line with the University mandates. “In seeking for global relevance, FUNAAB is more or less becoming a regional hub of excellence. Excellence in Agriculture, linking agriculture to Food, health and human behaviour and so having an international workshop on Food Safety for Nutritionists, and Health Professionals, is actually part of our dream”, he stated.
Professor Oyewole charged COLFHEC to think of more ways of taking the lead in the areas of food science, nutrition and health. He said FUNAAB offered a good platform to network with other colleagues in the West Coast because it facilitated the birth of the Federation of Food Science and Nutrition Network in West Africa, which is a project jointly sponsored by the Department for International Development (DfID); Association of African Universities (AAU); President of the Network, a Beninese, is a PhD student in the University.
