The Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Cooperatives has made plans to make sure that the food you eat is safe and good quality. They have created some rules for this.
Alfred Oyo Andima, who works at the Trade Ministry, talked about these rules. He said the National Trade Policy, Grains Trade Policy, and Standard and Quality Policy will help keep food free from aflatoxins.
They are also working with the Uganda National Bureau of Standards and private companies to test food for harmful substances. They can check food at different points in the process.
They talked about this at a meeting on October 5, 2023. The meeting was with the Health and Agriculture Committees. They were trying to see how bad aflatoxins are for food.
They are also making sure that the rules for grains are followed. They have made some special places to test food for harmful substances in Gulu, Mbale, and Mbarara.
To make sure everyone follows the rules, they need to hire more people. They want to hire 100 people every year for the next two years.
The State Minister for Trade, Hon. Harriet Ntabazi, said that sometimes farmers don’t wait long enough before picking their crops. This can make the food not follow the rules. She said they need more money to get equipment to test food.
A man named Humphrey Mutaasa said that Uganda loses $38 million every year because of aflatoxins. He said it starts in the ground, so they need to use better seeds and take care of the crops.
People in the government said they need to teach farmers how to follow the rules and work together. They said if farmers make groups, they can help each other and learn how to follow the rules better.
