Food safety is an important aspect of food and nutrition security, also in fish farming. Greenthumb CBO, one of the innovation cases supported by the Nakuru Living Lab, learned last week on how to improve safety of food and protecting the environment.

In the last few years, the Kenya Bureau of Standards has flagged down a number of processed food commodities from supermarket shelves for testing positive for toxic compounds such as aflatoxins. To process a wholesome product, it is necessary to have proper knowledge of the critical points for a fool-proof quality control system. The Agricultural Industry Network with the support of Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH invited Greenthumb CBO for a one-week training to build their knowledge on quality control and quality assurance in fish value addition. The course content included; Legal and regulatory provisions in food safety, sustainable packaging materials, hygiene and premise maintenance, storage technologies, energy, water and waste management, digital tools to enhance transparency and traceability among others.

“..this training will go a long way in helping us set systems that will help us compete effectively on quality and traceability. It will ensure that farmers do not use harmful chemicals and also observe post-harvest intervals. This way, we will protect the environment and safeguard food quality”

James (Chairperson, Greenthumb CBO)