Olam Agri launches 3rd edition of ‘My Healthy Baker’ initiative

A market-leading food, feed and fibre agri-business, Olam Agri Ghana, has commenced the third edition of its Healthy Baker initiative, a flagship baker engagement programme designed to improve the health and well-being of bakers across the country.

The initiative, launched in 2022, has been designed to benefit over 7,500 bakers across the country to benefit from the initiative. It also aimed at ultimately ensuring food safety within the communities they serve.

It is a key component of Olam Agri’s wider effort to support bakers in Africa and it is primarily aimed at educating and monitoring hygiene standards and compliance protocols at selected bakeries throughout Ghana.

Activities

The programme has a series of activities, including general health screening exercises and health talks, as well as health walks to raise awareness of the need for healthy living.

This year’s initiative, which is spearheaded by Olam Agri’s Grains Business, will continue to monitor vital health conditions such as Hepatitis B and high blood pressure, as well as breast cancer screening.  

The screening exercises will be conducted in collaboration with Twentyth Consult and the Regional Coordination Councils, ensuring that bakers receive comprehensive health evaluations.

Bakers who successfully pass the health screening checks will be issued with food handling certificates by the local authorities, certifying their suitability to handle food for public consumption.

Proactive steps

The campaign started in the Western Region towns of Takoradi and Aboadze, where the beneficiary bakers, apart from the health screening exercise, were also educated on good hygiene practices to ensure that optimal food safety standards are maintained at their respective bakeries.

The Business Head of Olam Agri’s Grains Business in Ghana, Soumya Saxena, leading the team to interact with the bakers, said having held the exercise every year since 2022, the company had decided to include breast cancer screening to emphasise the premium they placed on their stakeholders, many of whom were females.

He encouraged all bakers to take advantage of the initiative to know their health status to enable them to adopt healthy lifestyles, which would also enhance their productivity.

“We are proud to expand our Healthy Baker initiative this year.

By integrating breast cancer screenings into our health assessments, we are taking a proactive step towards ensuring the well-being of our bakers beyond just food safety. 

“We encourage all bakers to participate actively and take advantage of these invaluable health services. Together, we can enhance the health standards within our communities,” Mr Saxena said.