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Archive for the ‘Food safety’ Category

“The document attached  on “Rural Women’s Right to Food & Nutrition” was drafted as a Submission for CSW 62. BUT, it is a powerful sustainable statement on the realities of women and food issues, and indeed, applies to all women, well beyond rural. It is intersectional with multiple rights of women and girls. It links to the economic, social, and cultural rights, civil and political rights, that are inclusive in gender equality and social justice.

the document has different parts:

I. The global food economy has been both gender-blind and male-biased.

II. The livelihoods of rural women producers are particularly under threat.

III. Rural women workers are employed in all sector of the rural economy, yet lack access to decent work.

IV. Sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) are central in women’s RTFN

V. Indigenous women and girls are most vulnerable and marginalized in many countries of the world, where they make up an important part of the rural population.

VI. Women’s rights have been historically isolated from the human RTFN within legally-binding language of key international human rights treaties.

below are the main demands for achieving women’s right to food and nutrition:

VII. Demands for achieving rural women’s RTFN.
1. Guarantee rural women producers’ access, control, management and ownership of all natural and productive resources on which they depend.
2. Recognize and support rural women’s knowledge, culture, traditions and practices (in relation to agriculture, fisheries, forestry, livestock rearing and other food producing sectors) and their ecological understanding and sustainable practices should inform the management and conservation of resources.
3. Guarantee and implement decent work for rural women workers based on existing international instruments in a non-discriminatory manner.
4. Guarantee that systems are put in place to ensure that rural women who engage in domestic work are seen as significantly contributing to the economy and receive social security benefits.
5. Recognize the “intertwined subjectivities” of woman and child during pregnancy, childbirth, and breastfeeding framed through the lens of women’s rights throughout their lifespan – especially women’s and girls’ rights to SRHR.
6. Introduce policies and laws that enable States to regulate and avoid any undue interference of for-profit or commercially-motivated non-state actors in rural women’s RTFN.
7. Guarantee the full implementation of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
8. Guarantee an adequate legal framework for the realization of rural women’s fundamental rights and freedoms based on the principles of equality and non-discrimination.
9. Ensure the independence and transparency of monitoring mechanisms in the context of the 2030 Agenda: these must be based on human rights, be free of any commercial or corporate undue influence and conflicts of interest, and ensure the full participation of the most affected by hunger and malnutrition, especially rural women.
10. Ensure the full realization of the RTFN of rural women within the framework of food sovereignty. ”

 

to read the full document, press the link below

CSW Written Submission _20171020

 

 

Rita Chemaly

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Their motto: ” It’s not how much we give but how much love we put into giving ” … they are the “foodblessed” volunteers!  

Souper meals on wheels in LebanonWhat do they do ?  they are a ” a local hunger relief initiative run by a group of volunteers with a passion and will to fight hunger in Lebanon. ”

Their  mission combines environmental and social responsibility. “We work with strategic partners –including food and non-food companies- through recovering surplus food from events, organizing food drives, and fundraiser events to collect food (which includes surplus perishable food and non-perishable food items) and distribute it to local non-profit partners in need. While we help other non-profits, our efforts divert food wastes for reuse and better serve under privileged communities. A win-win-win model!”

Check this video!

https://www.generosity.com/community-fundraising/souper-meals-on-wheels–2

 

Are you In?

If you are looking to donate your time or money or surplus food or anything else you can think of, please get in touch:

 

Here is the link to the website!

http://foodblessed.org/AboutUs.html#sthash.LYq0OB9n.dpuf

Wonderful work!!

Rita Chemaly

 

 

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Print screen of Food Safety association Lebanon NGO

Print screen of Food Safety association Lebanon NGO

I am not panicking, I am thinking how we can stop microbes, poisoning clients and people in restaurants and food places in Lebanon. Kids love to eat nuggets and Macdo Nuggets are bad?!  There is not a proper law for food safety that sets standards for  what we eat  in restaurants in Lebanon. Our dear MPs have not voted for a law for food Safety in Lebanon, I just found that late Fuleihan proposed a law, but “In 2006, the law was debated in the council of ministers and sent to parliament for further discussion but there has been no action since. ” Also, as per the Daily Star in 2012, “Future Movement MP Atef Majdalani submitted  a draft law on food safety, saying it aims to modernize a sector which has failed to keep up with modern standards.” Again, Nothing happened and a law protecting people’s life has not been “Cooked”.

I checked the Official gazette, nothing was voted and published in it since then related to food safety, so is the law sleeping in Parliament drawers, while citizens are eating “bad” and poisonous food? Food that is ‘dipped in diseases and microbes’ as yesterday’s Minister Faour Said in his press conference? Does anyone has other information ?

as for the minister Abou Faour , Is this just a flash campaign from the ministry of health, “flash” as “flash mobs” or will they continue testing “without taking “Rendez-vous” from restaurants and eating facilities? how can Inspectors for food safety not be bribed? Will the ministry publish the details of the results of all tests done? And what were they “testing”? Hygiene, microbes, salmonella?

I checked if there is Non Governmental Organisations working on the subject, I just found one called LAFS  Lebanese Association for Food Safety , they are not very active as their website is not updated and their Facebook Page is sleeping since the “Labneh scandal”,  March 27 2014 I believe, here is a print screen.

The good thing I found on their website are the description of Symptoms and illnesses even though they don’t add the sources of their information. Below is a copy paste of what is related to that.

I am repeating my self, Food Safety comes First, we need to have a proper law that regulates the tests, the “kabssets” and proper system of implementation that will penalize those who brake the law.

Again, I am repeating my last questioning post related to Roadster a place I go to a lot, what is the take of Roadster related to the chicken that failed the test? Especially that the cover page picture of Lebanese association for food safety on Facebook  shows a partnership with roadsterdiner.

My question, is food safety truly respected at roadsters or it is just a communication campaign and branding issue?

as for my credentials : a normal citizen asking for her right for proper and safe food in a country known for its restaurants and hospitality and eating services and Tabbouleh!

Rita Chemaly

Cover picture of the Lebanese Association for Food Safety partnering with Roadsterdiner taken from Facebook

Cover picture of the Lebanese Association for Food Safety partnering with Roadsterdiner taken from Facebook

Symptoms and Illnesses

Staphylococcus aureus

Symptoms

  • Nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea

Illness

  • Symptoms usually occur 2 to 6 hours after consumption of the contaminated food
  • Illness is self-limiting and lasts for 24 hours

 

Clostridium botulinum

Symptoms:

  • Nausea, dizziness, vomiting, blurred vision, fatigue, and double vision
  • Loss of muscle activity, slurred speech, difficult swallowing, breathing and moving limbs
  • If left untreated, death occurs within 1-5 days from respiratory failure

 

Illness

  • Symptoms start to occur 18-35 hours after the ingestion
  • Infant botulism was associated with consuming honey
  • Can be treated if caught early

 

Campylobacter jejuni

Symptoms

  • Abdominal pain/cramps
  • Headache, Diarrhea (sometimes bloody)
  • Nausea and sometimes vomiting
  • Fever, chills

 

Illness

  • Individuals normally gets sick after 2-5 days of consuming the contaminated food
  • Duration is approximately 1 week
  • Further complications could be Meningitis, paralysis leading to death

 

Salmonella

Symptoms

  • Headache
  • Fever and chills
  • Diarrhea, cramps
  • Nausea
  • Vomiting

Illness

  • Individuals normally gets sick 12 to 24 hours of consuming the contaminated food
  • Period of illness is 1-3 days
  • Infected individuals can carry and shed Salmonella for months without showing any symptoms.

 

Listeria monocytogenes

Symptoms

  • In healthy individuals the symptoms are “flu-like”
  • Susceptible individuals (pregnant women, elderly, newborns and infants, immunosuppressed individuals:
  • Stillbirth or abortion
  • Meningitis
  • Pneumonia
  • Septicemia (infection of the blood)
  • Endocarditis (inflammation of the heart)

Illness

  • Individuals normally gets sick after few days to 35 days of consuming the contaminated food
  • High mortality rate (30-40%)!!

E coli O157:H7

Symptoms:

  • Bloody diarrhea and urine
  • Kidney failure and death

Illness

  • Infective dose is extremely low < 10 cells!!!
  • Incubation period is around 2 days
  • High mortality rate!

Bacillus cereus

Illness and symptoms

  • Two types of syndromes
  • The first
    • Onset of symptoms occur within 8 to 16 hours of ingesting the food
    • Duration of the illness is short 6-24 hours
    • Main symptom: Diarrhea
  • The second
    • Illness similar to Staph aureus
    • Onset of symptoms is short (1-6 hours)
    • Symptoms: Nausea, vomiting, and eventually diarrhea

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I am sad, as I am a fan of Roadsterdiner and we eat in Jaleldib branch since its opening, whether with friends, or recently with my family, It is so sad to know that chicken meat at Roadsterdiner Jaleldib doesn’t comply with the standards of food safety of the Ministry of Health in Lebanon.

We had diner in Roadster Jaleldib 4 days ago, and we ate chicken, meat, apetizers, pasta, and as I am a loyal Customer, I can’t but ask what kind of test the Ministry has done to test the chicken

If Roadsterdiner served a bad chicken, they should be held accountable, I as other clients most be aware of what is served in our plate, but I can’t but ask about how the ministry chose their sample to inspect Roadster diner.

I prefer to have more information about :

1- what kind of microbes they found,

2- Did they test other types of food in that restaurant?

3- Did they tested other branches?

What is the feedback of Roadsters? (I Tweeted them the question and retweeted some questions about that same issue, till now I  didn’t get any feedback).

Bad food is bad food, and food that is not conforming to Safety standards is for me = Poison.  I can’t accept it.

This is dangerous on our Heath, I’m just thinking that 4 days ago my baby boy ate there! he had some bites from my Salmon Hero sandwich, the best Tortilla with cheese I eat, the cheese at heart and other type of food! I am afraid now with that minister’s list.

I am reading all the comments on twitter, and how campaigns pro and cons roadsters are poping out “strip for roadster” as a reminder of strip for Jackie Chamoun campaign some fans of roadsters are saying, but I prefer to know more about the test, the chemicals or microbes found, when and how?

again  this time , it is serious, I don’t like to be poisoned, especially when we eat in a place were we think it is safe and clean, and up to certain standards of food safety.

again, the “bomb”  that Abou Faour blowed up distresses me a lot! and I m waiting for more information especially that Roadsterdiner in Jaledib is a place a I go to a lot!

food safety scandal lebanon roadsterdiner

For those interested in the news: here is the link to NNA Abou Faour: la nourriture des Libanais, ‘bourrée de microbes’

Rita Chemaly

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