By Aaron Okotel
MBALE CITY
In a bid to safeguard public health, the organization CONSENT Uganda on Thursday 10th. 04. 2025 conducted a crucial food safety sensitization training for market leaders in Mbale City.
The workshop aimed to equip these leaders with the knowledge and skills necessary to prevent food abuse and ensure safe food handling practices from farm to consumer.
The training addressed critical issues concerning the character and behaviors that compromise food safety, focusing on the role of market vendors as intermediaries between farmers and consumers.
Bernard Bwambale, a key facilitator, emphasized the importance of protecting final consumers from food-borne illnesses.
“One of the major issues affecting consumers is the quality of food,” Bwambale stated adding that food is meant to give good health, but again, food can be something very poisonous.
Global statistics paint a stark picture: over 200 diseases are caused by consuming unsafe food, affecting more than 2 million people annually. In Uganda alone, an alarming 1.3 million cases of unsafe food consumption are reported each year. Bwambale highlighted the progressive loss of food value at each stage of the food system, from farm to market, processing, and cooking.
The training specifically addressed serious hazards such as the adulteration of cooking oil with transformer oil, the contamination of food near hair salons, the use of harmful chemicals on tomatoes, and the practice of drying foodstuffs on tarmac roads. Bwambale also raised concerns about the use of dead body medicines for meat preservation.
Nsubuga Yusuf, the General Secretary of Mbale Central Market, urged market leaders to translate the lessons learned into tangible improvements in food safety.
“The health of people in Mbale City depends on the way we handle the supplies we sell to consumers,” Yusuf said urging his colleagues to disseminate the information they had received.
Farmers were particularly cautioned against spraying crops without protective gear, a practice linked to diseases like cancer. They were also advised against drying cereals and foodstuffs on tarmac roads, which Bwambale explained, contain carcinogenic oils. Instead, he recommended the use of tarpaulins for sun-drying.
The training included practical sessions on organizing market stalls and handling foodstuffs to minimize contamination.
CONSENT is an organization dedicated to consumer protection in Uganda.
