A South Sudanese dish. | Photo: Rover D Chapatis South Sudan

The Secretary of Food Safety Association in South Sudan is calling on employees of restaurants and hotels to practice good hygiene to prevent the spread of food-borne diseases.

Kenyi John Michael said practicing good hygiene in restaurants will protect consumers from micro-organisms contamination and waterborne diseases.

Kenyi calls on workers in restaurants and hotels to keep good hygiene when preparing food and serving their customers.

“I want to tell those who are working in the hotel, and those who are in the restaurant that food safety is everyone’s business, it is not only the work of the government,” he said speaking on Eye Radio’s Dawn show on June 21.

The food safety official says he has observed that some restaurant and hotel workers do not handle or prepare food in a safe manner.

“You find some are preparing food, and with the same hands that they use for preparing food, they also use for touching their body. You touch the food, you touch your knows, you touch the food, you touch your cloth and part of your body. By doing so, you are creating cross-contamination.”

A cross-contamination is the introduction of microorganisms from the surface of the skin or the cloth into the food.

“You find someone preparing food and at the same time also handling money. For those who are in hotels and restaurants, the person who is holding money should not be the same person who is serving food. Food standard saves live.”

Microbes such as bacteria, molds, and yeasts are employed for food production, and food ingredients such as the production of wine, beer, bakery, and dairy products.

But they pose health risks to human health.