By KT Reporter
The standard food value chain. It lays the foundation for food safety or quality.
International organisations World Health Organisation and the Food and Agriculture Organisation, sat together and came up with an organisation that would be mandated to develop food safety-related standards. Every UN member country, including Uganda, is a member of CODEX.
The Standard is a code of practice for hygiene in the food and drink manufacturing industry that Uganda now uses. GMP Good Manufacturing Practices and GHP Good Hygienic Practices.
Manufacturing starts from primary production or planting/agriculture. Every value chain player is responsible for where their/practice starts.
So, it is not a one-level standard. Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) harmonised its standard with the standards of the East African Community, meaning that the standard that applies in Uganda applies to the rest of the region, and is mandatory for everyone in the food production business.
It is a horizontal standard, meaning that it has requirements that cut across all businesses that have to do with food and drinks at different levels of the value chain, which therefore includes micro, small, medium (MSMEs) or large enterprises.
Mahmud Mbaziira, a Certification Officer at the Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS), says the standard targets all kinds of food, anywhere, including home kitchens and stores, restaurants, roadside or street food stalls, home- or factory-made drink outlets, or large factories.
The standard describes what the different aspects of standards entail, including contamination, which is the occurrence of any substance, whether good or bad, that was not intended to be in the product.
The standard also provides for stability of the standard, including taste of the product, either due to an error, a change in chefs or others, which must be guarded against by the standards policy.
Consumers are becoming more aware and empowered to demand that every business adhere to a system or prove that there is a system in place. So there must be an evident effort to safeguard the standards or quality.
There is a narrative in Uganda, and people think that when it comes to quality assurance, everything must be 100 percent perfect, which is not true.
Mbaziira says that what matters is that there is a system that guarantees the safety of the customers and guarantees the standard that you have promised the customers.
The standard sets out several measures of cleanliness, including of the premises, where a cleaning policy defines the process of cleaning, among other requirements. It also provides for the cleanliness of workers, where every worker is supposed to have protective gear.
This not only protects the worker, but also keeps the product safe from contamination, according to Mbaziira.
Food producers must, therefore, maintain clean business premises, equipment, and stores, with records of cleaning activities to prove compliance, while regular medical check-ups for workers are mandatory, with health records kept as required by the standards.
He specifically notes that when utensils are not well-cleaned, it can affect the taste of the product or even the health of the consumer.
The products:
The standard states that the producer must ensure proper packaging and labelling of the packaged products in accordance with UNBS requirements, avoiding the use of non-approved or improper packaging materials.
Producers must also maintain detailed records of internal and external product testing, maintenance activities, and worker health to demonstrate adherence to standards.
Another important aspect that touches the consumer is the volume of weight of the product. Many cases have been reported where the product label states a weight, while a measure of it reveals a lower weight.
This, according to UNBS, is an offence violating the standards. It says measuring equipment must be properly calibrated regularly to ensure the standards.
There are many other provisions of the standards, which are available at the UNBS website.
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