Managing food safety and quality in small-scale food processing for RTB value chains in Sub-Saharan Africa

Biosciences eastern and central Africa – International Livestock Research Institute (BecA-ILRI) Hub, the International Potato Center (CIP) and Natural Resources Institute (NRI)

 Food safety concerns are a growing focus in Africa, as elsewhere in the world. Foodborne illnesses are a preventable and underreported public health problem. These illnesses are a burden on public health and contribute significantly to the cost of health care. They also present a major challenge to certain groups of people. There are a number of food safety concerns during processing. Food safety is one of the most important aspects for processing plants around the nation. Each year, facilities try to prevent any food illness outbreaks or bacterial contamination by following the strictest sanitary regulations, but sometimes facilities lack awareness of the simplest safety measures. The lack of awareness is greater in sub Saharan Africa (SSA) and especially among traditional crops such as sweetpotato, cassava and bananas that were not traditional considered for commercialization. The production and provision of safe and nutritious food is important to RTB value chain activities. The objective of the training workshop is to enhance compliance to food safety regulations by small scale enterprises involved in RTB processing in SSA. The skills and knowledge gained from the training will be important in addressing food safety challenges that arise from lack of compliance to good Hygiene and Manufacturing Practices. The aim of the is workshop. Participants will receive Food Hygiene level 2 certification upon passing the examination after the training workshop, also participants will be able to develop their own food safety quality system for their operations.

Facilitators

1. CIP Food and Nutritional Evaluation Laboratory
2. Greenwich University, Natural Resources Institute (NRI)’s Food Safety and Quality Program
3. University of Illinois Champagne, Urbana, Department of Food Science and Technology
4. Biosciences for east and central Africa (BecA), ILRI
5. University of Nairobi, Food Science Department
6. United Nations, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Food Safety Program

Participants

• 20 confirmed participants (11 men and 9 women)
• Regional representation (4 Tanzania, 1 Uganda, 4 Ethiopia, 5 Kenya, 1 Malawi, 3 Nigeria and 2 Ghana).

Workshop sponsored by BecA ILRI, CIP-SASHA