Feed safety first: IFIF to train the trainer in Ghana

Supported by the Ghana Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), the training programme based on the IFIF FAO Feed Manual of Good Practices for the Feed Industry focusses on increasing safety and feed quality at the production level. Over 30 national and regional feed officials and feed mill representatives participated in the training and they will act as multipliers by sharing the training with colleagues throughout Ghana.

Training of key individuals

The IFIF Global Animal Nutrition Programme ‘Train the Trainer’ is designed to raise capacities for feed safety in developing regions by training key individuals who can then act as trainers on site within a country. This reflects IFIF’s mission to promote science-based solutions and information sharing for the feed industry, as well as stimulate the adoption of international standards and global equivalency.

Feed safety is key priority

Alexandra de Athayde, IFIF Executive Director, explains “we are pleased that we were able to hold our IFIF Global Animal Nutrition Programme in Ghana together with the Animal Production Directorate of the MoFA in Ghana. The IFIF training has real impacts for participants who can apply their new feed safety skills in across Ghana and I congratulate all the participants for their dedication to increase feed safety and quality at the production level and I thank the Animal Production Directorate for the excellent collaboration and support on this important initiative.” De Athayde added “IFIF members represent over 80% of animal feed production worldwide and capacity development for feed safety is one of the key priorities for IFIF. We will continue to roll out our Global Animal Nutrition Programme to other countries to support, train and develop the capacities of the local feed industries to raise feed and food safety standards globally.”

Good practice benchmarks

Dr Abdul Razak Okine, Deputy Director at the Animal Production Directorate of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), said, “the Ghana feed industry is diverse and we are committed to continue working with stakeholders in the industry towards achieving good practice benchmarks for animal feed safety and human food safety. Through the IFIF training programme our livestock officers/feed officials and feed millers are better able to understand the FAO/IFIF Code of Practice for Good Animal Feeding and other Codex standards, including hazards associated with animal feed, good production practices, cross contamination, and sampling and analysis. Dr Okine expressed the country’s gratitude for the selection of Ghana as a beneficiary of the IFIF ToT programme.