Strathmore Business School to host Food Safety Summit Africa 2015

Strathmore Business School (SBS) will this week host the Food Safety Summit Africa Conference & Expo at Strathmore University Auditorium to discuss food safety issues in Kenya and Africa.  

The two-day forum that kicks off this Thursday May 28^th to Friday May 29^th, 2015 will bring together international and regional service and product providers and policy makers; regulatory agencies, entrepreneurs, managers and professionals from the food agro industries in Sub-Saharan Africa for an intense dialogue on food safety matters. 

Commenting on the forum, Strathmore Business School Dean, Dr. George Njenga said: “Africa is faced with many challenges, including inadequate human capital and infrastructure – required to produce, harvest, store, transport, and process the bulk of its produce.  This often leads to huge losses and of course, an increase in unsafe food ending up on the table of millions of unsuspecting consumers.”

“Food poisoning is today a major health issue that costs families and households huge sums of money in treatment and in some cases leading to deaths. But the problems of unsafe foods does not end there, the rise in lifestyle diseases like cancer, hypertension and heart disease can also be linked to the consumption of unsafe food,” he explained.

According to the Dean, the Food Safety Summit Conference & Expo will serve as an important forum to engage the Government, NGO’s, food value chain players and the public to build upon the continent’s goal to “not only feed itself through agriculture and agro-processing, but also to produce safe food and horticultural products for local and export markets.”

The Conference will focus on current and emerging food safety issues in Africa in the face of changes in regulatory environment in the continent and its key export markets. Discussions at the conference will take the farm-to-table approach - covering the entire value chain from production, handling and storage, processing, retail and distribution of food, beverages and agricultural produce and will cover the latest information on food safety issues, from sanitation issues to the latest technological breakthroughs in an open and informative manner.

Organizers say the Food Safety Summit Africa 2015 provides opportunity for the continent and Kenya to start looking for African solutions for its unique food safety challenges, while working with the international community, suppliers, Governments, researchers and academia.

The Food Safety Summit Africa Conference & Expo is an annual event that focuses on current and emerging food safety issues in the continent in the face of changes in regulatory environment in the continent and its key export markets.

Strathmore University to cover medical expenses for students

Strathmore University has today confirmed a regrettable incident of food poisoning that occurred in its institution on Friday, 20^th March, 2015 to its fourth year students and staff members that had attended the Seniors Dinner at the University Auditorium.

The institution confirms that catering services for the event were outsourced and that investigations have been launched to establish the cause of the food poisoning.

According to a statement from the University:  “As of Saturday morning, some of the affected students had contacted the University and were directed to the Strathmore Medical Centre. By end of day, the Medical Centre had handled majority of the 80 reported cases.”

It continued : “Most complaints included stomach pains, vomiting, high fever and running stomach, the severity of each case dependent on each student. The University has undertaken the responsibility of covering the medical expenses of the affected students.

Today’s statistics indicate that 25 students are still receiving medical attention. Members of the University have been in touch with the affected students. The University’s medical doctor has asserted that the reported cases resulted from food poisoning.