CSIR recently presented a training course on food safety and hygiene awareness to food handlers for five schools in the Eastern Cape. The training, presented at Arthur Mfebe and Siyabalala Senior Secondary Schools, was attended by 17 food handlers and local officials.

The main objective of the program is to create awareness on food safety and hygiene procedures to be adopted by food handlers in order to ensure that safe meals are served at all times in the schools.

The training shared basic skills and knowledge in food safety and food hygiene to strengthen the capacity of the food handlers involved in the school feeding program. This will help them to adopt and promote food safety requirements in the production, handling, storage and transportation of foods that will contribute towards safe food for school learners.

The CSIR’s representatives, Dr Gerda Botha, Oscar Marumong and Priscilla Dikiso, demonstrated how to prepare a nutritious breakfast drink. The nutritious drink contains mainly vegetables including indigenous vegetables, soya, sorghum and milk. The CSIR has an on-going pilot project to serve this nutritious drink to five schools in Cofimvaba in the Eastern Cape as a dry premix. The drink is prepared in the morning for the learners to have a healthy start to their school day.