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FOOD SAFETY ACADEMY OF FOOD SAFETY ASSOCIATES LIMITED

REPORT OF THE TRAINING WORKSHOP TO ENHANCE FOOD

SAFETY, QUALITY AND IMPLEMENTATION OF STANDARDS BY

MAIZE MILLERS AND HAMMER MILL FABRICATORS

CODUCTED BY

MINISTRY OF TRADE, INDUSTRY AND COOPERATIVES UNDER THE QUISP

PROJECT IN COLLABORATION WITH FOOD SAFETY ACADEMY OF FOOD

SAFETY ASSOCIATES LTD

HELD ON 4th

OCTOBER 2016 AT MANAGEMENT TECHNICAL AND ADVISORY

CENTRE (MTIC), NAKAWA AND ON 6th

DECEMBER 2016 AT RELIANCE VIEW

HOTEL, MBALE DISTRICT

COMPILED BY

GRACE NANYOMBI-PROJECTS ASSISTANT

FOOD SAFETY ASSOCIATES LTD

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Table of Contents 1.0 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................. 3

2.0 THE OBJECTIVES (OUTPUT AREAS) OF THE ASSIGNMENTOF THE EXPERT ARE; ............. 4

3.0 OUTPUT 5: SUPPORT THE TRAINING AND IMPLEMENTATION OF QUALITY STANDARDS

AND BEST PRACTICES FOR MSMES ..................................................................................................... 4

3.1 ROLE OF MTIC AND FSA EXPERTS IN ACHIEVING THIS OUTPUT .......................................... 5

3.2 THE TRAINING OF MAIZE MILLERS AND HAMMER MILL FABRICATORS ........................... 6

3.2.1 TARGET PARTICIPANTS AND REPRESENTATION FOR THE TRAINING.............................. 6

3.2 TRAINING SESSIONS .......................................................................................................................... 8

3.2.1 PRESENTATION ON THE FINDINGS OF THE STUDY ON THE MAIZE MILLS AND

HAMMER MILLS FABRICATORS IN UGANDA .................................................................................... 8

3.2.2 PRESENTATIONS OF FOOD SAFETY AND HYGIENE IN MAIZE MILLING

ESTABLISHMENTS. .................................................................................................................................. 8

3.2.3 PRESENTATION ON THE BASIC KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS ON QUALITY AND SAFE

HAMMER MILLING MACHINES ........................................................................................................... 10

3.3 AWARD OF CERTIFICATES ............................................................................................................. 11

4.0 MONITORING MECHANISMS TO EVALUATE THE IMPACT OF THE TRAINING TO THE

TRAINED GRAIN MILLING AND HAMMER MILL FABRICATION SMEs IN THE SELECTED

REGIONS ................................................................................................................................................... 11

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1.0 INTRODUCTION

The Government of Uganda through the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives (MTIC),

in collaboration with Swedish Government and Trade Mark East Africa (TMEA) has been

implementing the Quality Infrastructure and Standards Programme-QUISP since 2010. The

programme aims at establishing a market-driven, holistic and coordinated institutional

framework for the Ugandan Quality Infrastructure and Standards; which supports trade, industry,

health, safety, consumer protection and a sustainable environment while at the same time

promoting use of best practices in the production and service sectors.

The overall objective of the Quality Infrastructure and Standards Programme (QUISP) is to

promote the use of quality infrastructure and standards so as to improve the competitiveness of

Uganda’s products, processes and service delivery systems in domestic, regional and

international markets.

The programme has five Specific objectives which form the result areas and these include;

1. To develop a policy for Standardization and review strategies for policy implementation

2. To develop a comprehensive and effective legal framework for the implementation and

enforcement of standards and quality control measures.

3. To establish an effective coordination mechanism with clearly defined mandates and

responsibilities for the different actors in the Standards and Quality area

4. To rationalize the institutional set up of service providers for standards development,

conformity assessment and measurement services

5. To enhance public awareness on standards and quality products and best practices

Through the extension implementation of QUISP, the ministry of trade, industry and

cooperatives together with the programme’s technical team developed a number of short term

expert assignments that would require the services of local experts to facilitate the

implementation of those activities. Food Safety Associates Ltd is the local expert that the

Ministry of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives (MTIC) through QUISP to facilitate the

implementation of these Key Short Assignments.

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2.0 THE OBJECTIVES (OUTPUT AREAS) OF THE ASSIGNMENTOF THE EXPERT

ARE;

1. Develop short-term policy studies to guide the decisions of the SMCA fora and other

relevant institutions on topical issues.

2. Develop end of implementation evaluation and phasing out strategy to ensure

sustainability of key QUISP results

3. Support MAAIF, KCCA and UNBS to implement the animal feeds and meat value

related standards and or technical regulation

4. Support training of MDAs in: development of Technical Regulations according to Good

Regulatory Practice (GRP), implementation of control plans and standard operating

procedures, modern monitoring, surveillance and control based on Risk Analysis (i.e.

auditing, certification, sampling and testing).

5. Support the training and implementation of quality standards and best practices for

MSMEs

6. Support capacity building of Technical Assessors and laboratory Analysts in method

validation and estimation of measurement uncertainty.

3.0 OUTPUT 5: SUPPORT THE TRAINING AND IMPLEMENTATION OF

QUALITY STANDARDS AND BEST PRACTICES FOR MSMES

Already, MTIC has worked with some stakeholders such as UNBS to train over 600 Micro,

Small and Medium Enterprises in implementation of standards in their businesses. As a result of

the training, over 600 SMEs have received an S mark as a sign of their products meeting the

requirements and 39 SMEs received the Q mark issued by the UNBS – as a sign of their

processes and products being compliant with the national standards. There are however, still

more MSMEs which have not been trained that would see improvement in the quality of their

products if a similar training is extended to them. In this regard, MTIC has identified over 350

SMEs to be trained in the current phase of the project.

Therefore, under this component, the FSA expert was expected to:

1. Liaise with the relevant unit of the UNBS, identify the necessary standards that the

MSMEs need to implement to meet the requirements of local and regional markets.

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2. Develop training materials.

3. Support the PMU in identification of the potential Trainees and the organization of the

Training of the MSMEs

4. Participate in the Training of the SMEs in implementation of the necessary quality

standards

5. Participate in the monitoring the impact of the training and prepare training report

indicating the lessons leant to aid the organization of similar future trainings.

3.1 ROLE OF MTIC AND FSA EXPERTS IN ACHIEVING THIS OUTPUT

From the inception meetings between MTIC, FSA and other stakeholders, it was agreed that the

first enterprises of interest are the grain millers where the training’s emphasis was on hygiene,

good manufacturing practices and technology being used (since not all are food grade).

The role of the Food Safety Academy of Food Safety Associates was to develop Technical

information and list standards to base on for training the identified MSMEs on GHP, GMP,

HACCP and ISO 22000-Food Safety, develop the selection criteria for the enterprises, develop

training material and facilitate the training in the selected regions of the country. The FSA expert

after reviewing the technical information was able to develop a training manual on Good

Manufacturing practices and food hygiene was the basis for the training to be conducted. The

expert also prepared power point presentations extracted from the manual and this was used as

the training tool.

The role of MTIC in this particular output/result area was to identify the enterprises of interest

that were to be trained in the different regions of the country and then organize the trainings. By

use of the selection criteria that was drafted by the Food Safety Academy, MTIC through its

Industry department and in conjunction with the Uganda SMEs association was able to select the

first regions that were to benefit from this training and also to identify grain millers and hammer

mill fabricators in the selected regions. The first priority regions were Kampala and its environs

(Mukono and Wakiso) and Eastern Uganda. In Eastern Uganda, the ministry selected Mbale,

Iganga, Tororo and Sironko districts to represent the region in this training.

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3.2 THE TRAINING OF MAIZE MILLERS AND HAMMER MILL

FABRICATORS

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives under the QUISP project, in conjunction with

Food Safety Academy of Food Safety Associates was able to organize the first two similar

trainings in the selected regions. The regions in which the trainings were conducted were

Kampala and its environs (Wakiso and Mukono) and Eastern Uganda. The first training that took

place on 4th

October 2016 at Management Technical and Advisory Center (MTIC), Nakawa and

the second training took place on 6th

December 2016 at Reliance View Hotel, Mbale District. In

both the trainings, the facilitators were by the FSA experts and a hammer mill fabricator

specialist.

Training team

a. FSA experts

Dr. Ananias Bagumire (FSA Lead Expert)

Mr. Roland Karumuna (Hygeine expert)

Ms. Gloria Arinaitwe (Food Science expert)

Ms. Grace Nanyombi (FSA Output Coordinator)

b. MTIC team

Eng. Kassim Semanda (MTIC Output Coordinator)

Mr. Simon Sebina

Ms. Jacinta Atim

c. Hammer Mill Fabrication expert

Mr. Bosco Bernard (Fabrication expert)

3.2.1 TARGET PARTICIPANTS AND REPRESENTATION FOR THE TRAINING

The target participants of the two trainings included; the owners and staff of grain milling SMEs,

grain farmers, traders, fabricators, black smiths, district commercial officers in Kampala and its

environs and the selected districts of Eastern Uganda (Mbale, Iganga, Tororo and Sironko).

A total of 30 individuals represented the selected enterprises in the first training that took place at

MTAC, Nakawa with the highest percentage (50%) being grain millers, followed by grain

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traders (17%) and fabricators (17%). Out of the 30 participants, 90% were from Kampala based

enterprises while only 7% and 3% represented Wakiso and Mukono districts respectively.

Out of the 80 grain milling operators and other key players who had been invited for the training

in Eatern Uganda, 69 participants turned up for the training. These participants were from the

four selected Eastern districts of Mbale (27%), Iganga (28%), Tororo (22%) and Sironko (23%).

The participants were dominated by owners of grain milling SMEs and their staff (69%),

fabricators (19%), followed the District Commercial Officers (6%), farmers (3%) and traders

(3%).

90%

7%

3%

District representation of the

training at MTAC, Nakawa

Kampala

Mukono

Wakiso

50%

17%

17%

6% 10%

Category of Participants in the

training at MTAC, Nakawa

Grain millers

Fabricators and

black smiths

Grain traders

Grain farmers

District/local

officers

69%

19%

6%

3% 3%

Category of Participants of the training

in Eastern UgandaGrain millers

Fabricators

District Commercial OfficersFarmers

Traders

27%

22%23%

28%

District representation of the training in

Eastern Uganda

Mbale

Tororo

Sironko

Iganga

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3.2 TRAINING SESSIONS

3.2.1 PRESENTATION ON THE FINDINGS OF THE STUDY ON THE MAIZE MILLS

AND HAMMER MILLS FABRICATORS IN UGANDA

The first presenter for both the trainings was Mr. Kassim Semanda from the Department of

Industry, MTIC. He presented the findings of the study on the maize mill and hammer mills

fabricators in Uganda; where the emphasis of the study was on hygiene of the grain milling

facilities and equipment, storage conditions of the equipment, raw material and finished

products. It also pointed out the quality of the hammer milling fabrication in Uganda.

From the findings of this study, it was concluded that the hygiene and storage conditions in the

grain milling facilities and the quality of hammer mill fabrication in Uganda are still below the

minimum standards that the Ministry of trade, Industry and Cooperatives requires from the Grain

milling subsector if the sector is to effectively compete in national, regional and international

markets. Therefore, in the recommendations of the study, it was suggested that there was need

for the key players in the grain milling industry to be trained on issues of hygiene and storage

conditions and the quality of hammer mills to be used for grain mills. The study also found out

that few of the grain milling SMEs had insured their businesses; and so there was an argue of

the need for grain millers and fabricators to insure their businesses.

3.2.2 PRESENTATIONS OF FOOD SAFETY AND HYGIENE IN MAIZE MILLING

ESTABLISHMENTS.

The subsequent presentations in both the trainings at MTAC Nakawa and Mbale were facilitated

by FSA experts. The presentations were categorized into different hygiene, good manufacturing

and food safety modules which followed a sequential order as below;

Module 1: Introduction to food safety and applicable laws

An overview of what food safety

Its importance in any their establishments

The different food hazards in a cereal handling premise

Different illnesses and health consequences of unsafe cereal consumption

The different laws which affect maize safety.

Module 2: Personal Hygiene

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Body care in cereal handling premises

Dressing for work in cereal handling premises

Personal health consciousness of cereal handlers

Hand washing

Module 3: Cleaning and Disinfection in cereal establishments

Importance of cleaning cereal premises

Common cleaning mistakes

Cleaning cycle and techniques in a cereal premise

Cleaning procedure for selected items and surfaces in a cereal handling premise

Cleaning procedure of the discharge spout

Module 4: Buildings and Facilities

Hygiene of the External environment (grounds/premises)

Sanitation operations (Pest Control)

Sanitary facilities and controls

Equipment Hygiene

Module 5: Purchase, Transportation and Delivery of cereals

Hygiene considerations during Purchase of Raw materials

Hygiene considerations during Loading and Transportation of cereal products

Hygiene considerations during Delivery

Module 6: Storage

Hygiene considerations during Storage of raw materials/unprocessed cereals

Hygiene considerations during Storage of processed/ready products

Module 7: Product processing

Hygiene considerations during Product Processing

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Module 8: Product packing and packaging

Hygiene considerations during Product packing and Packaging

Module 9: Product Dispatch

Hygiene considerations during Product Dispatch

In the first training at MTAC Nakawa, Dr. Ananias Bagumire, the Lead Expert of FSA

facilitated the first four modules starting with the first Module: Introduction to Food Safety and

Laws that affect Cereal Safety. In his training, he gave an opportunity to the participants to give

their views of how they understand the term Food Safety, and the different concepts which were

under discussion.

Mr. Roland Karumuna, the second FSA facilitator discussed the last four modules where his

emphasis was more on the hygiene of the milling facilities, equipment and their environment. He

also pointed out the different hygiene and safety precautions during processing, handling and

storage of raw materials and finished grain products.

While for the second training, that was in Mbale district; Ms. Gloria Arinaitwe facilitated the

first four modules in which she reminded the trainees about the different laws and acts that affect

the grain millers and other key players should always put into consideration and guided them on

the different hygienic precautions that the grain processors have to address so as to ensure

hygienically safe grain products as in the modules above.

Mr. Roland Karumuna, the second FSA facilitator of the second training discussed the last four

modules where his emphasis was still more on the hygiene of the milling facilities, equipment

and their environment. He also pointed out the different hygiene and safety precautions during

processing, handling and storage of raw materials and finished grain products.

3.2.3 PRESENTATION ON THE BASIC KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS ON QUALITY

AND SAFE HAMMER MILLING MACHINES

The last presentation in both trainings was about hammer mill Fabrication. This was conducted

by Mr. Boso Bernard. He provided participants in both trainings the basic knowledge and skills

on how to select a good quality grain mill which is food grade, how to identify poor quality grain

mills and for the fabricators who participated, they wer guided on how to choose appropriate

material for manufacturing high quality and safe hammer grain milling machines which are food

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grade. The impacts of using and selling hammer mills fabricated out of non-food grade materials

were also pointed out and these included;

Metal contamination of the finished products due to the wearing of the hammer mill

Increased risks of chronic diseases like cancer due to consumption of metal contaminated

grain floor.

High costs of maintenance of the hammer; as it is not durable

3.3 AWARD OF CERTIFICATES

At the end of each training workshop, each of the participants including the District Commercial

Officers was awarded a certificate of training that signified that he/she had attended and

completed the training in Enhancing Food Safety, Quality and Implementation of Standards for

grain millers and Hammer Mill Fabricators. In the training at MTAC Nakawa, the certificates

were awarded to the participants by the KCCA Commercial Officer while for the training in

Mbale district, the certificates were awarded to the participants by their respective District

Commercial Officers

4.0 MONITORING MECHANISMS TO EVALUATE THE IMPACT OF

THE TRAINING TO THE TRAINED GRAIN MILLING AND HAMMER

MILL FABRICATION SMEs IN THE SELECTED REGIONS

After the training on Enhancing Food Safety, Quality and Implementation of Standards for Grain

millers and Hammer Mill Fabricators, the impact of the training to the trainee SMEs will be

assessed basing on;

Significant changes in cognitive outcomes, such as the amount of information learned as

evidenced by improved working processes based on the appropriate standards.

Changes in skill-based outcomes, such as improvement in safety and quality of

production, against an appropriate standard like hygiene code of practices

Changes in effective outcomes, such as high level of personal hygiene and equipment

hygiene in milling facilities, positive attitude of the floor staff towards cleaning of

facilities among others.

The above assessment will be conducted through;

1. Regular inspections

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Regular inspection of the grain milling facilities and the hammer mill fabricators. The inspections of the

grain milling facilities will have their basis on the Code of practice for Food Hygiene Inspection while for

the inspection of the hammer mill fabricators, regulations on the good manufacturing practices to be used

should be drafted and approved.

These regular inspections will be conducted by the district or municipal inspectors health inspectors and

the respective District Commercial Officers. The officials/inspectors from UNBS, Ministry of Trade,

Industry and Cooperatives and Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF) at any

one moment can also do evaluation inspections.

2. Auditing

Another way of assessing the impact of the training will be through auditing. These audits can be

internal or external. For the case of internal auditing, the trained Grain milling SMEs and

hammer mill fabricators arrange internal audits so as to assess the impact of the training on their

food safety systems. Food Safety Associates Ltd recommends that MTIC should support and

facilitate these internal audits in some of the trained SMEs.

While for the case of external audits, MTIC can as well organize external audits in the trained

SMEs. This will enable both the ministry and the audited SMEs to identify their areas of

improvement and weakness so as to maintain the improvements and work on their weaknesses.

These external audits can also be done by officials from UNBS, MTIC and the district officials.

3. Certification

After the inspections and auditing have been conducted and corrective actions have been

implemented, those trained SMEs that qualify for either “Q” or “S” marks can be certified with

those marks so as to distinguish them from the others who are not yet implementing standards

and not putting into consideration quality and food safety in their establishments. This will

provide a competitive basis for the certified SMEs and as well argue other SMEs to start

implementing the required standards, thus adding value to Uganda’s trade.