Accra, Oct. 5, GNA - The Ghana Chefs Association has established a training school to train wayside cooks on the need to prepare food in a hygienic way since they served as the first point of call for most people including tourists.

Mr Stephen Cofie Dzilah, President of the Association, told the Ghana News Agency on Thursday that the school would absorb people in the fast food industry, "check check," and traditional caterers to train them on standards and hygiene.

The West African Gastronomy Academy, which already has the first batch of graduates made up of people in the hospitality industry, hopes to extend training to non-professionals in the industry to standardize Ghanaian culinary.

The School, the first of its kind in West Africa, was expected to serve people in the Sub-Region, Mr Dzilah said, and added that Ghanaian chef trainers would have an exchange programme with chefs in South Africa to learn from their expertise.

He expressed concern about the curriculum of students pursuing hospitality courses in the polytechnics and said the students were not prepared to become chefs in future when they were in school. Mr Dzilah said the Association was also encouraging members to upgrade themselves to enable them to give customers the best, saying, "Food can promote tourism."