October 28, 2005
By Anish Abraham
SNACKING on food from Jozi's multitude of streetside food sellers is to get a lot safer now the City's department of environmental health is conducting regular training sessions on safe, healthy vending of food.
"By 2010, all food hawkers have to be trained in how to properly handle foodstuffs," says Douglas Wood, an environmental officer.
Environmental health officers on the ground identify potential locations around the city and then inform food vendors of the free training sessions that will take place.
The Gauteng Hawkers' Association also helps out by informing their members of upcoming training sessions. The sessions are designed to be as participatory as possible, as Wood says that is the best way for hawkers to learn.
One of the training sessions
(Photo: Department of environmental health, Region 9)
The training sessions focus on preparing food safely, buying and storing food, personal hygiene, environmental hygiene and street trading by-laws.
"We explain regulations at a level which they can easily understand. It is easier when you use multimedia for demonstration purposes," he says.
For the training sessions, Wood collects photos from the area to demonstrate what is being taught as this makes it easier for the vendors to relate to what is being discussed.
He says another important duty is to expose unscrupulous practices by people who sell products to the food hawkers. For example, there are cases where people use bleach and other harmful chemicals to "purify" dirty cooking oil. They then sell it to unsuspecting hawkers at low prices. Such oils are harmful for human consumption.
"They [the food hawkers] have to be made aware of such things taking place," Wood says.
Training sessions
The sessions last at least two hours and vendors receive a certificate of attendance once they have completed them.
They started in 2003, and there are sessions almost monthly, spread across the various City regions. More than eight training sessions have been conducted at FNB Soccer City, which will host the opening and the final games of the 2010 Soccer World Cup.
"They [food hawkers at Soccer City] have access to good facilities and are more willing to improve their business and raise their profile," Wood adds.
Other venues where training has been held include the Denver Hostel, the athletics stadium in Ruimsig and the conference facilities at the Johannesburg Fresh Produce Market in City Deep.
"Provided there is a venue, there are no barriers to where we must train food hawkers," Wood explains.
Between 40 and 50 food hawkers attend each session, despite their difficulties getting to the venues and finding a trustworthy person to look after their stalls during the training.
Many find out about the training through word of mouth. "However, some food hawkers are unsure, as this is a new thing for them," Wood adds.
Innovation
Wood says it is planned to teach the course in three or four official languages. He also hopes to add something new each year.
Depending on the programme, food hawkers are also given some insight into finance and nutrition.
In addition, with the recent outbreak of typhoid in Mpumalanga, Wood says training will include some information on communicable diseases and how to avoid them.
Johannesburg's emergency management services is playing its part. It teaches food hawkers how to deal with fires, focusing especially on those who work near Soccer City.
Each region is expected to have trained 100 food hawkers before the end of June 2006, and each has a database to store the details of the hawkers who have been trained.
Eventually these regional databases will be combined into a central database of hawkers who are certified to handle foodstuffs. The City also plans to have standard aprons with an easily recognisable logo and identity tags for those hawkers who have completed the training.
Wood says this will make it easier for environmental health officers and metro police officers to identify illegal food hawkers. They can then be removed; but they will be given an opportunity to attend a training session and become certified.
Wood expects the food hawkers to be kitted out in their aprons by early 2006, though plans are still being finalised.
Train the trainer
Three City environmental officers - Wood, Jerry Thanyane and Johannes Monaisa - and Louisa Magabana from the provincial department of health, have formed a committee to help train other trainers.
Wood says it is very difficult for a few people to be cover the whole city, so more trainers are needed.
The have devised a short "train the trainer" course which should run in January 2006. The environmental health department plans to have at least two trainers in each region.
"This programme is already attracting a lot of attention and we have had discussions with other local authorities regarding training and education of food hawkers," Wood concludes.
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