Awareness march marks World Food Safety Day |09 June 2023
The march in full swing
To commemorate World Food Safety Day on June 7, 2023, the Ministry of Health in collaboration with other partners involved in the promotion of food standards, participated in a march to raise awareness on food safety.
Carrying placards bearing different food safety messages, the participants started the march at the Seychelles Hospital and went down to Rue De Possession ( ex-Francis Rachel street), round the clock tower, down Independence Avenue, up the Constitution Avenue and onto to Manglier Street to finish at the Freedom Square in central Victoria.
The participants were from health, the Agriculture department within the Ministry of Agriculture, Climate Change & Environment, the Tourism department within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Tourism, the Seychelles Bureau of standards, the Seychelles Licensing Authority, Enterprise Seychelles Agency (Esa) and the Fair Trading Commission (FTC).
Addressing the participants at the end of the march, the principal secretary for Agriculture, Kevin Nancy, said he was glad of such an initiative which puts much emphasis on food safety, given the many chain reactions – from farming to production, among other processes and procedures – before the food is consumed.
He thanked the participants for their involvement and hoped for a bigger turnout next year.
A member of the organising committee, Naomi Lawrence from the Public Health Authority, later said that apart from raising awareness on consuming safe foods, the march was also to showcase the partnership between stakeholders in the fight to ensure that food consumed by the population is safe to eat.
“To achieve food safety requires a multi-displinary approach and this is why we at public health, need the support of other stakeholders to help showcase the importance of food safety that is key to sustaining life and promoting good health,” she said.
To end, some of the participants went around Victoria to distribute food safety awareness promotional materials.
Text & photos by Patrick Joubert
