The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Lira, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Authorities in Lira have raised concerns about the growing number of roadside food vendors as the trend continues to increase daily. Major streets in Lira City are now filled with vendors offering various snacks, such as chips, roasted and cooked chicken, chapatti, beans, and other fast foods.
Some of these foods, especially the cooked ones, are prepared at home and then delivered to their selling points, where they are often sold over low heat well into the evening. With the rise in the number of city residents, the demand for affordable food has also surged.
By 6p.m., women, often carrying children on their backs, can be seen carrying wooden tables with cooked food on their heads. They make their way to popular areas like Teso Bar, Kamdini Corner, Jinja Camp in City West Division, Uhuru Bar along the Lira-Soroti Highway, and other parts of the city center.
Because most times the food is uncovered and exposed, the leaders argue that it gets contaminated which poses a major health risk. Morris Chris Ongom, the chairperson of Uganda Chambers of Commerce Lango Chapter attributed the high number of non-communicable diseases to a lack of seriousness from both vendors and consumers who do not care about their health.
“So my call to my friends and, business people at the lower level; you are starting small, you are making pancakes. For example, you have just returned from the toilet, you have not washed your hands, you have already started slapping chapatti, you are picking it up and giving the next person, you have cleaned your nose, you have done the next and all that…please make sure that the process can be trusted.”
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), an estimated 600 million (almost 1 in 10 people) in the world fall ill after eating contaminated food and 420, 000 die every year whereas children under 5 years of age carry 40 percent of the foodborne disease burden, with 125, 000 deaths every year. Ongom rallied health inspectors to strengthen sensitization and enforcement.
However, Job Eluk, the Senior Health Inspector in charge of Lira City East Division noted that their enforcement efforts are swatted by several challenges ranging from high demand for cheap food, limited funding, and even political interference.
Eluk who acknowledged the magnitude of the vice explained how risky it is for one to consume such food.
“Sometimes you may find a particular type of business you are handling in a certain location may affect somebody indirectly either or smell or even through just looking at it- it might be unsightliness to you….like when you are handling pork in an area where you have Muslims, automatically you will be affecting them.” He argued.
Despite the challenges, he said efforts are underway to regulate the vice.
Sylvia Kirabo, the spokesperson for the Uganda National Bureau of Standards argues that there is a national standard for food safety but was quick to note that compliance with these standards is the challenge.
Data shows that over 50 percent of food sold on the street is unsafe and consuming it can result in foodborne illnesses like cholera.
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