This post was written by Fatima Olanike Kareem, a senior sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) scientist at AKADEMIYA2063, and Getaw Tadesse, the director of operational support at AKADEMIYA2063.

The burden of unsafe food

Africa is saddled with high rates of foodborne diseases and hazards that present significant challenges to its food system. These challenges are indicative of Africa’s weak capacity to comply with food safety regulations, resulting in public health problems. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Africa has the highest burden of foodborne illnesses in the world. This prevalence gives rise to the high cost of medical treatment and productivity losses of about $16.7 billion for Africa, south of the Sahara, as shown by a 2019 study. In addition, another challenge is the toll of unsafe food on food security and nutrition on the continent. Unsafe food reduces the bioavailability of food nutrients, undermining dietary intake and utilization of nutrients in food, all of which have an inhibitive impact on the food utilization component of food security. These implications are depicted in Figure 1. Furthermore, unsafe food has also resulted into market access problems in its agri-food products, since unsafe food exports are usually denied entry by the importing countries. Consequently, this inhibits food trade within and outside the continent.

Africa’s progress on food safety

Insights into food safety systems in Africa reveal that many African Union (AU) member states are not progressing in ensuring safe food systems. The evidence is based on the Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP) biennial review (BR) data. Under the CAADP BR process, AU member states collect and report on data to assess Africa’s progress toward meeting the 2014 Malabo Declaration agricultural transformation targets by 2025, including on food safety. The progress on food safety is measured using an African Food Safety Index (AFSI), which is comprised of three components that pertain to a food safety system, health and trade. In 2021, the year in which the most recent data is available, the index shows that only 6 out of the 51 member states that reported on this index were “on track” to achieving the target of 50% progress in strengthening food safety by 2025 (see Figure 2).

Policies challenging the status quo: A paradigm shift

The “spaghetti bowl” of food safety challenges on the African continent has stimulated the development of continental policy responses aimed at strengthening food safety. There are a number of policy responses to address the various food safety challenges faced by the continent. At the forefront is the 2019 AU Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Policy Framework for Africa, which covers policy actions on food, animal and plant health. This framework provides a road map for a coherent, modern and harmonized continental SPS system that ensures food security, promotes healthy food and reduces unsafe food and foodborne illnesses, and bolsters intra-Africa trade. The Food Safety Strategy for Africa (FSSA), the Animal Health Strategy for Africa (AHSA) and the Plant Health Strategy for Africa (PHSA) are the three strategies for implementing the AU SPS Policy Framework.

The FSSA is of particular relevance for a coherent, harmonized and strengthened continental food safety system (see previous Agrilinks article). The FSSA also represents paradigm shifts needed for a modern and efficient African food safety system. One such paradigm shift aims to combat the low level of food safety investment and calls for the allocation of a 10% portion of the CAADP national budget share for agriculture to go toward improving food safety systems. And, in contrast to the old traditional structure whereby the responsible AU departments, member states and regional economic communities (RECs) were the major drivers of food safety issues, the FSSA recognizes that food safety is a shared responsibility that requires the engagement of a wider range of stakeholders, including the informal food sector and formal food business operators, academia, advocacy groups, consumers and donors. Furthermore, other shifts include promoting food safety consciousness among the African populace, advocating for safe food, sensitizing children about food safety and integrating food safety education into school curricula.

All these intended paradigm shifts will facilitate the ability of AU member states and RECs in pooling the necessary resources to acquire quality SPS infrastructure and investment to build technical capacities to enact and implement state-of-the-art scientific food safety regulations, as well as foster broad partnerships to ensure an effective implementation of Africa’s food safety policy agendas.

Way forward

As a practical way forward, a successful implementation of the AU SPS Policy Framework through FSSA requires the domestication of the FSSA by the member states. Learning from the process of CAADP, whereby the continental initiative is domesticated and owned by the member states through the developmental of National Agricultural Investment Plans (NAIPs), the domestication of the FSSA can be materialized through the development of country-specific food safety strategies that are consistent with the FSSA, but also informed by local contexts. Such a policy process would help to bring member states together for mutual accountability and mutual learning. Public and donor support is critically important in domesticating the FSSA and supporting countries to develop their own food safety strategies.