The rapid growth of Senegal’s dairy sector has outpaced the implementation of food safety practices and policies to reduce the risk of foodborne disease from the consumption of raw and fermented milk. Recent outreach by a project funded by the FSIL has equipped partners at the Food Technology Institute (ITA) and the Senegalese Institute of Agricultural Research (ISRA) with knowledge and tools to detect and identify foodborne pathogens in the domestic milk supply.
“To date, Senegal’s milk production and processing industries have not yet been thoroughly studied beyond a literature review and a handful of student theses,” said Woubit Abebe, professor and director of the Center for Food Animal Health, Food Safety and Food Defense in the Department of Pathobiology at Tuskegee University and co-principal investigator (PI) of the FSIL dairy safety project. “Our partners in Senegal will be identifying the issues and pathogens relevant to the sector that deserve a closer look.”