An Assessment of the Role and Effectiveness of the Environmental Protection Agency in Ensuring Food Safety and Production in Osun State, Southwestern Nigeria

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is a federal agency created in 1970 to protect human health and the environment by researching and regulating the production, processing, distribution and use of chemicals and other pollutants. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is charged with creating and enforcing regulations that protect people and the planet from the harmful impacts of pollutants, not justin our environment but also in food and animal feed and water [1,2]. So, with that said, an environmental agency or environmental protection agency is a multi-signature organization or commission tasked with protecting the environment, resource management, and preservation and established within or outside of government. They also said that these agencies must preserve the environment from the misuse of its resources due to human degradation of the environment by climate change. For humans to exploit the earth'senvironmental resources sustainably for generations to come, we need proper environmental management [3].

Haris et al. [4] continued that food processing is the conversion of raw materials into finished products. This involves establishing connections through time, but also physical space: food is one of the most basic human necessities. proved that food is key to life and the basis for all that we do. Food is needed mainly to preserve life [5,6], and food must be wholesome and palatable, devoid of untoward compounds, including lethal chemicals, toxins, and infectious microorganisms [7]. Inefficient or inappropriate food processing technologies, inadequate post-harvest handling practices and unavailability or lack of storage facilities, packinghouses and inadequate market infrastructures are some of the factors that can be attributed to the high level of post-harvest food losses in West Africa (8) Food must be handled, prepared and stored in such a way as to avoid causing foodborne diseases such as cholera and gastroenteritis [9]. Environmental factors playa role in street food safety. These are knowledge and awareness about food safety measures, low food hygiene practices and lower socioeconomic conditions for food vendors, poor attitude of food vendors toward food safety, socio-cultural beliefs, and trust [10,11]. Foodborne and waterborne diarrheal diseases cause an estimated 2.1 million deaths annually, mainly among children in developing countries [12,13]. The Nigerian government has a National Policy on Food Hygiene and Safety, which was implemented as part of the National Health Policy in 2010. To achieve high food hygiene and safety practices to promote health, control food-borne diseases, and minimize and eventually eliminate the risk of diseases associated with poor food hygiene and safety is the overall goal of the National Policy on Food Hygiene and Safety [14,15].

Responsible agencies are required to do the following: protect the public from harm caused by the consumption of unwholesome food, ensure that all food establishments are properly inspected and registered, and conduct public health surveillance of food handlers and food processing equipment. educate the public on proper hygiene and safety procedures [16,17]. However, the challenge of food quality and safety in Nigeria, whether for domestic consumption or exportation, requires serious attention. However, Agbola [18] discovered that 45% of his respondents in his study of food insecurity among farming households in Osun State, Nigeria, were food insecure using the Food Security Index Similarly, Banjoko et al. [19] Assessment of the Information Needs of Street Food Vendors in Ilorin East Local Government Area of Kwara State. However, these two study did not consider the roles of environmental protection agencies, hence this study evaluates the roles of the environmental protection agency, assess the performance of the environmental protection agency strategy in food production, examine food safety practices by a food handler, and investigate problems associated with the effectiveness of environmental protection agency in food production in Osun State Nigeria.