From the forest to the market: How food safety is transforming the lives of women bushmeat traders in Ghana

"Before FAO came, we thought this was simply how bushmeat should be sold because it was how our mothers did it. Today we know that protecting our customers also protects our families," says Comfort Baidoo, a bushmeat trader at Kumasi’s Atwemonom Market and a participant in FAO’s training on food safety. Before dawn each day, the women of Atwemonom Market begin preparing for another busy trading day. Their stalls soon fill with smoked and fresh bushmeat, attracting customers from across the city. For these women, bushmeat is much more than food. It is the source of household income, school fees, healthcare, and financial security for their families. In Ghana, bushmeat commonly includes species such as grasscutters (greater cane rats), duikers, bushbuck, porcupines, monkeys, and other small mammals. Bushmeat is generally defined as the meat of wild animals harvested from forests and other natural habitats. Behind the vibrant marketplace in Kumasi was a challenge that many consumers never saw. Bushmeat is a valuable source of animal protein, but if it is not handled safely, it can expose both traders and consumers to foodborne illnesses and diseases that can pass between animals and p