KWAME NKRUMAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURAL ENGINEERING MSc. FOOD AND POSTHARVEST ENGINEERING FOOD QUALITY ASSURANCE ASSIGNMENT 1

OSEI TWUMASI-ANKRA PG 5943711

FEBRUARY,2012

IMPORTANCE OF FOOD SAFETY IN AFRICA INTRODUCTION Food safety is an increasingly important public health issue. Governments all over the world are intensifying their efforts to improve food safety. These efforts are in response to an increasing number of food safety problems and rising consumer concerns. Africa is a region where food insecurity, political instability, communicable diseases, natural disastersand other major concerns dominate government agendas and the news media, and yet the importance of foodsafety is often not well understood. However, food safety is of critical importance to Africa because ofits aggravating impact over the above listed concerns. The 1996 World Food Summit Plan of Action recognized the importance of food safety, as it defined food security as: when all people (have) access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food . IMPORTANCE OF FOOD SAFETY y To improve customer/consumer confidence- For a place like Africa where the better part of our foreign exchange comes from the export of food either as raw materials or in semi-processed forms, it is critical that we pay attention to food safety in order to maintain high standards that will keep the international community interested in procuring products from Africa. Those that produce for the local markets should also place premium on food safety since consumers these days are more assertive in their tastes and preferences and a producer could collapse the reputation of his brand if any source of contamination is identified with your product.

Attract Foreign Direct Investment. When investors are convinced of a particular region as one that places premium on safety and has in consequence gained a reputation for it, they are attracted to investing in such economies in order to benefit from the goodwill accruing to such laudable reputation. This is a good motive for African economies to place premium on foods safety since foreign direct investment is a paramount source of revenue in Africaneconomies.

A healthy manpower for improved productivity- food-borne illnesses contribute to decreased worker productivity, disability, and even early death, thus lowering incomes and access to food. Food-borne illnesses also contribute to human suffering

in the region. There is a high incidence of diarrheal diseases in African children, estimated as 3.3 to 4.1 episodes per child per year. It is estimated that 800,000 children in Africa die each year from diarrhoea and dehydration (FAO/WHO Regional Conference for Food Safety In Africa, 2005).With such outrageous mortality figures from unsafe food, there is no gainsaying the fact therefore that African economies must treat food safety as a sine qua nonfor national development.

Mortality rate and life expectancy- placing emphasis on food safety by African governments can decrease mortality rates and increase life expectancy in the region. Food is a basic need and requirement for life everywhere. If it is a requirement for life, then it is imperative that we get it in the safest form possible. Doing this will go a long way to avoid illnesses and deaths that occur as a result of unsafe food consumption.

Saves scarce resources- it is very expensive to manage epidemics and yet most African economies have had to battle with this every now and then and most of these epidemics are as a result of unsafe food consumption. Ensuring food safety in the African region will allow us save the already resources that we have for more profitable projects instead of managing epidemics and other crises that are related to unsafe food consumption.

CHALLENGES RELATING TO IMPROVING FOOD SAFETY y Incomprehensive food safety policies- even though there have been conscious efforts by African governments to establish food safety policies, they have been largely incomprehensible and most legislations to this effect have not been able to respond effectively to both domestic and global challenges.Access to information on international food standards is difficult for many individuals and organisations in subSaharan Africa.

Lack of logistics for safety monitoring: it is the case in most African countries that owing to a dearth of government commitment to ensuring food safety, logistics for compliance monitoring are not provided for the regulatory agencies. Sometimes

simple chemical testing kits are not available to the staff of these agencies and this hinders their work.

Poor education of stakeholders:Education is a critical area of food safety in African economies. There is a need to improve producers/manufacturers,

processorsandconsumers understanding of food safety issues. There is a lack of information concerning the availability and suitability of lower cost, safer local alternatives for use by poor people and whether consumers are willing to pay more for safe food and if this can be used as an incentive for producers and processors to produce safer foods. Education programmes should also include cost-benefit comparisons and take into account cultural preferences and patterns of behaviour.Education in food safety should be addressed throughout society, for example in schools, households, workplace and in food processing and catering businesses.

Consumers Associations- Theyplayimportantroles in addressing food quality, prices, safety and environmental concerns. Currently there are very few, consumer associations in sub-Saharan Africa even though some are springing up. It is considered that these associations could potentially play an important role if supported and integrated at both local and international levels.

Lack of a systems approach to food safety monitoring and assurance-There is a lack of food safety management systems approach, for example hazard analysis and critical control point (HACCP) and even where this exists, implementation is another problem. It is considered important to identify the main food safety hazards, where they occur in the food production and marketing chain and their potential risk to consumer health. A multi-disciplinary approach to hazard identification, based on risk assessment, must be undertaken. This should include collection of data on occurrence of food hazards (for example, pathogens), and the conditions and handling practices that lead to their presence in food systems. To support the case for further investment in food safety interventions, there is a need to calculate the potential economic value resulting from improved food safety and consumer health.

Urbanisation- This can lead to environmental changes which can in their turn affect food systems which can rapidly evolve in an unregulated situation. Food quality and safety in particular may be affected. Food consumption habits and food demand may also change as a result of urbanisation. However, little is known or documented about this in many sub-Saharan nations. It is useful to determine consumer perceptions, barriers and responses to emerging new foods. This information can help with the development of food supply and catering businesses that can adapt in response to changing pattern of urbanisation. Needs assessment must be used to inform research and consumer reaction must be taken into consideration before products are promoted.