Nutrition Impact at Scale- Food Safety Masterclass

“We tend to think about food safety only when we get sick, yet we should think (about it) more often because?foodborne diseases are entirely preventable,” -?Dr. Maria Neira, World Health Organization ?Assistant Director-General.?In Africa, there is an increasing recognition of the need to strengthen food safety systems to protect consumers and enhance trade in the region. To address this pressing issue, a #foodsafety Masterclass was organized, bringing together esteemed panelists and speakers from various African countries.?

Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) in Collaboration with Association of Startup and SMEs Enablers of Kenya ( ASSEK ) under the Nutrition Impact at Scale Project held a Food Safety Masterclass on the 9th of June 2023, themed Strengthening Food Safety Systems in Africa. The Master class came following the recent trainings conducted by the project on Food Safety, Standards and Compliance trainings to Entrepreneur Support Organizations (ESO) and #smes . The masterclass brought together panelists and speakers from Nigeria, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Mozambique to provide participants with valuable insights, foster knowledge exchange, and facilitate the adoption of the best practices; with the goal of broadening and deepening their knowledge and understanding on food safety.

The Food Safety Masterclass featured a diverse group of panelists and speakers who are experts in the field of food safety. Representing different sectors and regions in Africa, they provided valuable perspectives and shared best practices to address the challenges faced by the continent in ensuring food safety is achieved. The panelists included: Genet Gebremedhin - Head of Policy and Advocacy, GAIN Ethiopia, John Kinyuru, PhD, RNS - Foods Safety Expert Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) / ICAD, Stellah Ottaro - Food Safety Consultant at Top Quest Consultants Limited consultants. We collaboratively had speakers that complemented the Masterclass, they included: Social Enterprise Ethiopia Association - CEO, Social Enterprise Ethiopia , Bambo Adebowale - Dean and Director at FATE School- Nigeria, Saskia Julia CAVO - Project Manager GAIN – Mozambique and Fredrick Ang'ienda - Team Leader BAYE Africa The great session was moderated by ASSEK CEO- Mercy Kimalat .

During the session, the panelists and the speakers shared valuable insights and recommendations to strengthen the Food System in Africa. Some key highlights are: Tracking the impact of Food Safety Standards especially for Food Business Operators #fbo. The good questions, to ask your self , as an individual or as an institution are: How often do you track the impact of Food safety? do you have food safety strategies/ measure for your business? How often do you review them? it is very important to track the impact that comes with following the Food Safety measures, and ask yourself if you have system in place to help trace the impact. This was followed closely by Public Awareness and Education: The Panelists stressed the significance of raising public awareness about food safety risks and best practices. Statistics show that majority of FBOs , #entrepreneurs , consumers and small-scale producers are not educated on how to carefully handle food as this plays a vital role in reducing foodborne illnesses. ?Public awareness should be done through #webinars , #masterclasses and public forums.

Additionally, they emphasized on the need to enhancing regulatory frameworks: there is need for comprehensive and harmonized food safety regulations across African countries. ?The Panelist: Stellah Ottaro and John Kinyuru, PhD, RNS emphasized the importance of updating existing regulations, adopting #internationalstandards and establishing effective enforcement mechanisms to ensure compliance.

The Food Safety Masterclass brought together influential panelists and speakers from Africa, shedding light on the importance of strengthening the food safety system on the continent. The insights and recommendations shared during the event, if well incorporated to the latter, then #african countries can make significant strides in ensuring #foodborneillness are greatly mitigated.

On behalf of ASSEK board and Secretariat, we would like to thank Ochieng Miruka Manasseh , Cluster Lead, Nutrition Enterprise Unit, GAIN, Clement Musyoka - Project Manager at Global Alliance For Improved Nutrition and ASSEK CEO, Mercy Kimalat and all the panelists and speakers for taking the lead role in ensuring the session was successful and seamless.

We had a question from one of our participants that we would like you to ponder as an entrepreneur, consumer, Food Business Operator (FBO) and small -scale produces, from Isaac Kisongocho;” By 2045, the world urban population is projected to be 6 billion. Most of the African countries will have to adhere to this rapid growth but without the capacity to handle this challenge, urban poverty will explode resulting to food insecurity. Which measures are in place to ensures this gap is addressed?” you can share your ideas on the comment section.

We wrapped up?a testimonial from Calvince Okello - “Thank you GAIN and ASSEK for conducting this meeting to enlighten entrepreneurs dealing with food products gain knowledge about food safety and security as a whole. Many producers undergo losses at the market level because they do not follow regulations of certification agencies. We need to understand importance of food security to avoid such losses since all these leads to food insecurity”.

The mission is to advance #nutrition outcomes by improving the consumption of nutritious and #safefood for all people, especially the most vulnerable to #malnutrition in Africa and Beyond and yes, we can!