Mike Johannes a United States Senator once said ‘Food safety involves everyone in the Food chain. I totally agree. Food safety is defined as the handling, preparing and storing of food in ways that prevent foodborne diseases. Among the main aims of food safety is to make sure that the foods keep enough nutrients for the society to have a healthy diet. These include a number of routines that should be followed to avoid potentially severe health hazards hence preventing harm to consumers. Unsafe food means that the food has been exposed to dirt and germs or may even be rotten and this can cause health problems to consumers.Safe food handling ranges from the food production, its channels of transportation and distribution and continues through preparation processes thus the safety should be between the industry and the market and between the market and the consumers. The processes between the industry to market include food labeling, food hygiene, food additives ,pesticides residues as well as policies on biotechnology and food while the market to consumers practices include food handling, food preparation, food packaging and other practices. The unsafe handling can occur at any level hence exposing the consumers to a lot of dangers. One can tell the food is safe by smelling, tasting and also by its look , in that case anyone along the production chain, from producers to the consumers has a very big role to play in ensuring the food we eat does not cause diseasesFood safety is essential for it prevents the contamination of food which makes it unsafe for consumptions. There are many opportunities for food contamination to take place especially in today’s food supply since its complex and involves a range of different stages including on-farm production, slaughtering or harvesting, processing, storage, transport and distribution before the food reaches the consumers e.g. food such as meat can be contaminated during production, slaughtering or processing stages and if contamination occur during manufacturing, a consumer could inadvertently cook contaminated meat.Some of the causes of contamination are exposure to microorganism such as bacteria, fungi, yeast, moulds and viruses, chemical hazards which include cleaning chemicals or food with naturally occurring toxins such as green potatoes and physical hazards which include dangerous physical objects found in food e.g. plastic ,glass, elastic bands, wood chips or band-aids. Contamination of food can cause food poisoning which is caused by bacteria which multiply due to exposure of food to air, conducive temperature for them and also a lot of moisture in the food .These bacteria can also form a toxin to the food. Food poisoning can be mild or severe and can even cause death. Some of its symptoms are diarrhea, stomach cramps, nausea, vomiting, fever and also headaches. Anyone who eats contaminated food can get food poisoning however vulnerable people such as young children, pregnant women, elderly people and those with other illness such as cancer are at higher risk of developing severe symptoms from the unsafe food.Food Contaminated with heavy metals or naturally occurring toxins can also cause long –term health problems such as cancer. These diseases are painful and also costly to the whole family and may bring death thus by handling food safely we save life of many people and money.Foodborne illnesses such as meningitis also arise due to consumption of contaminated food. These illnesses are dangerous and costs billions each year in health care costs and lost wages thus by proper handling of food this diseases can be prevented.In most of our communities there are different gatherings such as community or church gatherings, meetings, seminars which may involve preparation of food and consumptions and most of people involved are the young children and elderly people thus by practicing food safety, foodborne diseases are prevented and this can enhance your standing in the community.The high risk foods that is, types of food that allow quick growth of bacteria such as meat, should be cooked and stored well in the refrigerators at a safe temperature to prevent the growth of bacteria and should also be allowed to thaw. When harmful bacteria spread to food from other food, surfaces, hands or utensils there is cross contamination which is hazardous and can cause food poisoning easily since bacteria in raw food contacts ready-to-eat- food or cooked food then have the chance to grow. To prevent cross contamination, raw meat and vegetables should be kept away from cooked food, cooked meat should be kept above raw meat in the refrigerator, the food should be covered and protected and also the utensils cleaned and sanitized while handling raw food then cooked food without washing hands should be avoided.The government and other development partners such as European Union, World Health Organization (WHO) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) collaborate to ensure that the food from industry is safe for consumption. They do this by setting food safety standards, conductinginspections, ensuring that standards are met and also maintaining a strong enforcement program to deal with those who do not comply with the standards e.g. the government has set in place state and federal guidelines which allow officials to inspect meat production and processing plants so that potential contamination risks can be addressed. This protects the consumers against poor food handling practices and also provides higher standards for meat handling. The government has also introduced programmes such as Shamba Shapeup which helps to create awareness to the consumers and farmers on food handling safety especially while the plant is still growing. The food we eat today come from a global market comprising of over 170 countries making the food chain longer thus the government agencies and the development partners make sure the food is safe to protect the health and safety of domestic consumers and they are also critical in enabling countries to assure the safety and quality of their foods entering international trade and the imported foods conform to natural requirements.WHO,FAO and other programmes have strong interest in promoting national food control systems that are based upon scientific principles and guidelines and which address all sectors of the food chain.The Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS),is one of the organizations that is responsible for provision of standardization in industry, provide quality assurance for range of products and facilities for examination and texting commodities that are manufactured thus ensures the product meet the consumer needs hence enhancing food safety.Food safety is a multisectoral and multidisciplinary, everybody has a role to play in keeping the food safety thus it is a shared responsibility between government, industry, producers, academia and the consumers. Achieving it is an effort which requires expertise from range of disciplines such as toxicology, parasitology, nutrition and human and veterinary medicine. They need to communicate with each other and engage with the civil society including the consumer groups. Local communities, women’s groups and school education also has important role to play in enhancing food safety. They have to educate the community on important of the food safety and went ahead in showing them the benefits of practicing it and by doing this the quality and standard of our food will always raise; reducing diseases thus the nation will continue to develop.

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