AOAC-SSA plans to better food safety in Africa

Dr Owen Fraser, President of AOAC-SSA

AOAC International has established a Sub-Saharan Africa section, dedicated to promoting and advancing knowledge and best practices in analytical sciences, to build confidence in analytical results in this region of the world. The inaugural meeting of the AOAC-SSA Section provided an opportunity to bring together interested parties to share experiences and best practices, and to discuss opportunities for cooperation in food safety capacity building.

Improvement of Food Safety Regulatory Systems

Status of food safety and food safety regulatory systems across Sub-Saharan Africa was discussed, of particular note was (i) the need to address the fragmentation of systems and the discrepancy in capabilities across countries, (ii) emerging political will to put food safety on the agenda and to work together to improve systems was noted, (iii) coordinated approaches to advancing food safety systems at the national level, with links to bodies such as theAfrican Union Commission (AUC) that can play a broad, overarching role in coordination and communication.

Food safety capacity building and the harmonisation of standards

• The power of food safety capacity building as an imperative for facilitating trade and economic development

• Harmonisation of standards to stimulate ease of trade amongst African countries.

Reliability of analytical results and accreditation of laboratories

The reliability of analytical results in terms of facilitating trade, the capacity of the laboratory system was identified as being critical. Effective analytical facilities to support trade and economic development are crucial for Africa. The proposal was that Centres of Excellences in various food safety testing areas be established across Africa to serve the needs of Sub-Saharan Africa and potentially beyond.

Investment, sustainability and scalability in food safety capacity building

Key to any capacity building is the need to base initiatives on strong models accounting for solid investment, sustainable outcomes and scalability of initiatives over the long term. Benefits of using ‘train the trainer models’ to enable ongoing training with local trainers; and pilot programmes where training can be refined through application of lessons. Implementation of pilots within a region or country that could then be scaled up across the continent as a critical way of leveraging the skills developed and resources available. Basing any capacity building models on clear investment plans and pathways for a return on investment was noted as critical.

The priorities for 2019 are analytical methods development and harmonisation, capacity building, membership expansion and improving lab standards. The next annual meeting will be held from 4 to 8 November in Cape Town, South Africa.