31 July 2024, Africa: CABI has attended the Global Food Safety Symposium and highlighted how food safety transcends international borders while also underscoring the important role Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) measures play in greater global food security.
Dr Benoit Gnonlonfin, CABI’s SPS, Global Program Lead, shared his expertise at the event, organized by the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Michigan State University, USA, under the banner ‘Food Safety in the Global Arena: Past, Present, and Future.
The event was held at the Kellog Center, Michigan State University, to mark the 25th anniversary of the International Food Safety Training course offered by the university in collaboration with national and international partners.
Building a safer food supply for the world
The symposium drew a diverse group of stakeholders, including those from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the International Food Information Council (IFIC) and Kenya’s National Biosafety Authority, to share their expertise and experiences towards building a safer food supply for the world.
In total, participants came from 24 counties and included various international organizations and donors.
Dr Gnonlonfin, who is based at CABI’s regional centre for Africa in Nairobi, Kenya, said the difficulty to meet food safety as part of broader SPS standards of importing countries has led to limited market access for low and middle-income countries.
He said unsafe food leads to productivity losses of about US$95 billion a year in low and middle-income countries. Africa is the greatest contributor to the burden of unsafe foods in the world.
According to World Health Organization (WHO) estimates, about one-third (137,000 out of 420,000) of the global deaths (and 91 out of the 600 million global cases) of foodborne disease occur in Africa, each year.
Control of crop pests and diseases
He stressed that SPS measures in regards of food safety are primarily a government function and are carried out by multiple stakeholders. They include risk assessment and preventive controls, risk mitigation, monitoring, inspection, certification, and control of crop pests and diseases.
Dr Gnonlonfin said, “With agri-food commodities accounting for more than 70% of intra-regional trade, aligning and meeting food safety standards by low and middle-income will be critical for successful implementation of the regional integration framework that exist in many parts of the developing world.”
He highlighted how alignment with international Codex standards is a prerequisite for countries to effectively participate in global and regional trade and that trade is an important driver to improve food safety and public health concerns.
More productive, inclusive, nutritious, and sustainable
Dr Gnonlonfin further added that ensuring food safety is everyone’s business and joint responsibility and public-private partnerships can help to reduce/cut expenditures, stimulate innovation, and provide new business models to manage trade.
He said food supply chain/trade is part of the solution, moving food from surplus to deficit areas, creating jobs and supporting economic development.
“Our food systems should become more productive, inclusive, nutritious, and sustainable. Reducing food loss and waste along supply chains should be a top priority. Improving trade efficiency and reducing costs at borders will help,” Dr Gnonlonfin said.
He concluded by arguing that resources are insufficient to meet all the needs in the short to medium term and that countries will have to prioritize and make hard choices between competing investment options.
However, Dr Gnonlonfin, said many tools are available to help making these decisions, improving transparency and economic efficiency.
Issue that transcends international borders
Dr Gnonlonfin said, “Food safety is an issue that transcends international borders. Globalization of the food market has increased importation and exportation of food among countries posing new food safety risks from emerging diseases, possible reintroduction of risks that had previously been under control or promoting the spread of contaminated food more widely.
“This, therefore, requires countries to take further steps to improve food safety at the national, regional, and international levels and ensure proper application and harmonization of food standards.
“However, there should be a balance so that food safety measures and controls protect public health while avoiding unnecessary costs and trade barriers.”
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