By Naomi Uzor

The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), said it has commenced a process to set standard for food vendors to ensure consumption of safe and nutritious foods.

SON DG

Members of the draft code were drawn from the Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources, Ministry of Health, National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration Control and tertiary institutions.

The Director General, SON, who made this known in Lagos during the technical committee meeting on the draft Nigerian code of Hygienic Practice for Street-vended foods, called on all stakeholders to comply with the code that would be issued in the first quarter of 2011.

Represented by Mr. John Achukwu, the Director of Standards, Akanya , said that the upgrading and standardisation of food vendors was to ensure that Nigerians have unhindered access to wholesome, safe and nutritious foods, adding that an estimated 1.8 million people died annually of diarrhea-related diseases caused by unsafe food and water.

According to him, government intervened to ensure consumption of safe food, and that the increase in food vending was as a result of urbanisation growth in the cities, and that the code would attract more operators to the sector and boost jobs creation and poverty reduction, adding that SON would ensure active involvement and participation of critical stakeholders in the standardisation process.

“While SON cannot claim to have achieved 100 per cent success in the delivery of its mandate, it can proudly point at the involvement of necessary stakeholders in the standardisation process in Nigeria ,” Akanya said.