CABI Shares Expertise on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures at African Food Safety Workshop 2024
14 October 2024, Africa: CABI shared its expertise on Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) measures at the African Food Safety Workshop 2024 – held as part of the Third Africa Food Safety Technical Meeting – to support efforts to enhance Africa’s food safety system.
Dr Gbemenou Joselin Benoit Gnonlonfin, Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS), Global Program Lead at CABI, presented at the event organized by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) with the Government of the Kingdom of Morocco, through the Office National de Sécurité Sanitaire des produits Alimentaires (ONSSA).
The workshop, which was facilitated by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)/IAEA Centre of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture, addressed, among others, the implementation of the African Union Food Safety Strategy for Africa 2022-2036.
The conference brought together 150 participants and representatives from 32 African countries. These included African universities, national research institutes, private sector stakeholders, regulators, and organizations such as FAO, World Food Programme (WFP) and the United States Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service (USDA-FAS), Inter-African Phytosanitary Council (AU-IAPSC) of the African Union, and CABI.
Development and implementation of CABI’s SPS strategy
Dr Gnonlonfin delivered a presentation on SPS Measures, focusing on food safety and trade, as well as the development and implementation of CABI’s SPS strategy 2024-2034.
He said that while trade can contribute to the provision of sufficient and nutritious food – as well as a variety to consumers – it can also lead to the increased possibilities of unsafe food.
Dr Gnonlonfin said, “Globalization of the food market has increased the import and export of food among countries. Further steps to improve food safety at the national, regional, and international levels is required to ensure greater global food security.”
He highlighted how unsafe food in low and middle-income countries is accountable for US $95 billion in productivity losses and is linked to illness, disability, and premature deaths. Meanwhile, plant pests and diseases cause an estimated US $220 billion in productivity losses around the world due to reductions in harvests by 10 to 16 percent.
“There is an urgent need to address the challenges complying with SPS measures at the country level and these include weak national food control systems, inadequate SPS infrastructure, insufficient technical expertise to manage SPS requirements, and limited resources for enforcement and monitoring,” he said.
Digital technologies can facilitate and promote both fair and safe trade
Dr Gnonlonfin further stressed that climate change is also having an impact on SPS as well as new foods and novel food safety risks. However, he highlighted how digital technologies can facilitate and promote both fair and safe trade moving forward.
He said CABI’s SPS Strategy will aim to protect plant and animal health – ensuring food safety and enhancing intra-regional and global trade.
Dr Gnonlonfin said, “The objective is enhanced and strengthened sustainable SPS capacity in CABI’s 48 Member Countries and beyond. We will, in partnership, focus on risk-based SPS measures, harmonization of international standards and regional and international trade facilitation.”
He said short-term key actions for 2025 will include SPS awareness campaigns targeting youth and women in agribusiness as well as increasing Member Country participation in International Standard Setting Bodies such as the Codex Alimentarius or “Food Code” and the World Trade Organization (WTO).
CABI’s global contribution to safe food
Dr Gnonlonfin also informed participants at the workshop on examples of CABI’s global contribution to safe food.
For instance, the CABI-led PlantwisePlus programme aims to reach 75 million smallholder farmers in 27 countries with advice on how to diagnose and mitigate plant health problems – with an emphasis on pest preparedness and pesticide risk reduction, especially the use of more environmentally friendly biological controls.
CABI is also, through PlantwisePlus, working with partners in Kenya on the development of a National Pesticides Residues Monitoring Framework amid concerns that incorrect use of pesticides can pose a significant risk to food safety.
This includes identifying and implementing classical biocontrol methods and harnessing the potential of augmentative biocontrol and biopesticide solutions to reduce the impact of priority pests including fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda).
Closer interaction among safety stakeholders involving laboratories, research and development (R&D) institutions, inspectors, regulators, industry and others along the entire food chain was also promoted at the African Food Safety Workshop 2024.
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