Fish and chicken are among the most important and affordable animal-based protein sources in the Bangladeshi diet. Although Bangladesh has experienced growth in modern retail outlets, fresh food markets still hold a large share of retail sales of fish and chicken. The hygiene and safety of the market environment and contamination during processing are major concerns for foodborne illnesses, but informed decisions and strategic actions along these value chains can enhance food safety.

This project, led by Madan M. Dey of Texas State University and Mohammad Saidur Rahman of Bangladesh Agricultural University, is identifying areas in the fish and chicken value chains where food safety interventions can reduce foodborne illnesses. This project is collecting data on the levels of antibiotic residues, bacterial pathogens, and heavy metals and assessing how behavioral practices among different value chain actors impact the overall load of food safety hazards. To inform policy recommendations, the project is evaluating consumers’ willingness to pay for certified safe foods as well as quantifying the welfare impacts of a general reduction in exposure to harmful microorganisms and chemicals.

Results and data from this study will support science-based decisions on the most effective methods and key actors/locations to reduce the food safety hazards associated with fish and chicken in the markets of Bangladesh and develop tools to evaluate the benefits of improved food safety. This integrated, multidisciplinary value chain approach can be applied globally to other perishable product value chains.

Reducing the incidence of foodborne diseases and other food safety risks in Bangladesh is challenging because of the scientific and regulatory infrastructure required to support a food processing sector dominated by micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs). An understanding of the prevailing gaps will accelerate efforts to address food safety risks and create a robust food system.

This project, led by K. Vijayaraghavan of Sathguru Management Consultants, is conducting baseline and gap assessments of food safety risks, regulations, scientific capability, and current food industry practices in Bangladesh. The first goal is to determine the critical factors for food safety and establish national primary interventions for addressing major gaps. In addition, an assessment of Bangladesh’s existing infrastructure for detecting foodborne pathogens is identifying key opportunities for workforce and institutional capacity building for monitoring and control of microbial food safety hazards.

This project is laying the foundation for a data-driven and risk-based approach to reduce, manage, and mitigate foodborne illnesses across food sectors in Bangladesh. Promoting public-private partnerships to meet the food testing needs of MSMEs; developing new rapid testing technologies; enabling mechanisms for data sharing across government agencies to track outbreaks; and supporting the government’s regulatory framework are opportunities to transform Bangladesh’s food safety environment.

In recent years, Cambodia’s commitment to reducing malnutrition has led to increased investments in the promotion of high value, nutritionally rich foods—particularly vegetables. However, raw vegetables can be a high-risk food in terms of food safety. Measurably reducing the incidence of foodborne pathogen contamination on vegetables can safeguard the nutritional gains of a healthy diet for Cambodian children, households, and communities.

This project, led by Jessie Vipham of Kansas State University and Paul Ebner of Purdue University, is targeting food safety gaps in the production, distribution, and sale of vegetables in Cambodia. Together with colleagues at the Royal University of Agriculture and other strategic partners, they are identifying the bacterial pathogens that pose the greatest food safety risk and investigating critical control points within the food value chain to identify contributors to pathogen contamination, transmission, and persistence.

This project is also creating targeted interventions, developed within the context of local food safety practices, perceptions, and barriers, to facilitate new standalone and integrated educational programs. Regular assessments will ensure the project both reduces the incidence of vegetable contamination and creates tools that are scalable and applicable to other foods and commodities in Cambodia.

Distribution centers are essential infrastructure in Cambodia’s food system, connecting vendors with produce to sell to consumers in the country’s ubiquitous open-air markets, but they are also possible sources for cross-contamination with pathogenic bacteria. Repeated exposure to these pathogens puts consumers, especially children, not only at risk of acute gastrointestinal infections, but also of enteropathy/environmental enteric dysfunction. Strategic food safety interventions along the value chain can reduce, manage, and mitigate these risks.

This project, led by Jessie Vipham of Kansas State University and Paul Ebner of Purdue University, is assessing pathogen transmission on vegetables at distribution levels in Cambodia. Environmental sampling is identifying both the specific organisms of concern and the key points where contamination is present. This analysis is being coupled with surveys to identify current practices and perceptions of food safety to inform the design and implementation of interventions to strengthen food safety in Cambodia.

This work is enabling focused interventions in specific areas of the value chain where changes in food handling practices can lead to a measurable reduction in the risk of contamination of vegetables that reach consumers. Data from this project will be used to identify targeted interventions that are effective and scalable. In addition, a landscape analysis of food safety programs and opportunities will characterize the current food safety challenges in a Cambodian context and provide a baseline for future food safety efforts in the country.

The coronavirus pandemic has forced the food industry into uncharted territory, driving it to confront a new set of challenges, including facility shutdowns and overall supply chain disruptions. Protecting the food industry workforce through policies to reduce person-to-person transmission and new technical, organizational, and personnel procedures to manage the risks associated with COVID-19 is essential for a secure and safe food supply.

This project, led by Martin Wiedmann of Cornell University, is creating and mentoring an international task force to advise the food industry in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Kenya, Nepal, and Senegal. Task force members are working the Cornell Institute for Food Safety to customize and translate COVID-19 resources for the food industry in their countries and delivering concise, science-based messaging on COVID-19. In addition, they are providing guidance on mitigation strategies through Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) videos and food industry office hours.

The task force is providing a rapid response to food system challenges and strengthening food security during the coronavirus pandemic. In the long term, the project’s network of experts and its scalable approach can be mobilized to address future pandemics or natural disasters which threaten the food systems in these countries.

The coronavirus pandemic has forced the food industry into uncharted territory, driving it to confront a new set of challenges, including facility shutdowns and overall supply chain disruptions. Protecting the food industry workforce through policies to reduce person-to-person transmission and new technical, organizational, and personnel procedures to manage the risks associated with COVID-19 is essential for a secure and safe food supply.

This project, led by Martin Wiedmann of Cornell University, is creating and mentoring an international task force to advise the food industry in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Kenya, Nepal, and Senegal. Task force members are working the Cornell Institute for Food Safety to customize and translate COVID-19 resources for the food industry in their countries and delivering concise, science-based messaging on COVID-19. In addition, they are providing guidance on mitigation strategies through Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) videos and food industry office hours.

The task force is providing a rapid response to food system challenges and strengthening food security during the coronavirus pandemic. In the long term, the project’s network of experts and its scalable approach can be mobilized to address future pandemics or natural disasters which threaten the food systems in these countries.

The coronavirus pandemic has forced the food industry into uncharted territory, driving it to confront a new set of challenges, including facility shutdowns and overall supply chain disruptions. Protecting the food industry workforce through policies to reduce person-to-person transmission and new technical, organizational, and personnel procedures to manage the risks associated with COVID-19 is essential for a secure and safe food supply.

This project, led by Martin Wiedmann of Cornell University, is creating and mentoring an international task force to advise the food industry in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Kenya, Nepal, and Senegal. Task force members are working the Cornell Institute for Food Safety to customize and translate COVID-19 resources for the food industry in their countries and delivering concise, science-based messaging on COVID-19. In addition, they are providing guidance on mitigation strategies through Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) videos and food industry office hours.

The task force is providing a rapid response to food system challenges and strengthening food security during the coronavirus pandemic. In the long term, the project’s network of experts and its scalable approach can be mobilized to address future pandemics or natural disasters which threaten the food systems in these countries.

The coronavirus pandemic has forced the food industry into uncharted territory, driving it to confront a new set of challenges, including facility shutdowns and overall supply chain disruptions. Protecting the food industry workforce through policies to reduce person-to-person transmission and new technical, organizational, and personnel procedures to manage the risks associated with COVID-19 is essential for a secure and safe food supply.

This project, led by Martin Wiedmann of Cornell University, is creating and mentoring an international task force to advise the food industry in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Kenya, Nepal, and Senegal. Task force members are working the Cornell Institute for Food Safety to customize and translate COVID-19 resources for the food industry in their countries and delivering concise, science-based messaging on COVID-19. In addition, they are providing guidance on mitigation strategies through Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) videos and food industry office hours.

The task force is providing a rapid response to food system challenges and strengthening food security during the coronavirus pandemic. In the long term, the project’s network of experts and its scalable approach can be mobilized to address future pandemics or natural disasters which threaten the food systems in these countries.

The coronavirus pandemic has forced the food industry into uncharted territory, driving it to confront a new set of challenges, including facility shutdowns and overall supply chain disruptions. Protecting the food industry workforce through policies to reduce person-to-person transmission and new technical, organizational, and personnel procedures to manage the risks associated with COVID-19 is essential for a secure and safe food supply.

This project, led by Martin Wiedmann of Cornell University, is creating and mentoring an international task force to advise the food industry in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Kenya, Nepal, and Senegal. Task force members are working the Cornell Institute for Food Safety to customize and translate COVID-19 resources for the food industry in their countries and delivering concise, science-based messaging on COVID-19. In addition, they are providing guidance on mitigation strategies through Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) videos and food industry office hours.

The task force is providing a rapid response to food system challenges and strengthening food security during the coronavirus pandemic. In the long term, the project’s network of experts and its scalable approach can be mobilized to address future pandemics or natural disasters which threaten the food systems in these countries.

Food safety practices and policies at national and regional levels have a strong impact on food security, trade opportunities, and human development. Each country is a unique environment in terms of food safety policy, food safety awareness, pathogens affecting value chains, and research capacity for managing food safety risks. Analyses of food safety systems and past investments on food safety is a foundation for countries to identify weaknesses, address gaps, select policies and practices that can be scaled up, and assess progress over time.

This project, led by Delia Grace Randolph and Florence Mutua of the International Livestock Research Institute, is conducting a situational analysis and review of investments in food safety in five East Africa Community (EAC) member countries. This analysis documents existing policy and regulatory frameworks, available data on major foodborne diseases associated with livestock, fruits, and vegetables, and current stakeholder awareness of food safety in these food industry sectors.

Assessing previous and on-going food safety investments and evaluating their impact will fuel efforts to identify critical success factors and make recommendations for data-driven food safety interventions. This project’s county-specific reports for Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda will form the basis for targeting food safety gaps, developing resilient food safety policy frameworks, increasing trade opportunities, and reducing the burden of foodborne diseases.

Food safety practices and policies at national and regional levels have a strong impact on food security, trade opportunities, and human development. Each country is a unique environment in terms of food safety policy, food safety awareness, pathogens affecting value chains, and research capacity for managing food safety risks. Analyses of food safety systems and past investments on food safety is a foundation for countries to identify weaknesses, address gaps, select policies and practices that can be scaled up, and assess progress over time.

This project, led by Delia Grace Randolph and Florence Mutua of the International Livestock Research Institute, is conducting a situational analysis and review of investments in food safety in five East Africa Community (EAC) member countries. This analysis documents existing policy and regulatory frameworks, available data on major foodborne diseases associated with livestock, fruits, and vegetables, and current stakeholder awareness of food safety in these food industry sectors.

Assessing previous and on-going food safety investments and evaluating their impact will fuel efforts to identify critical success factors and make recommendations for data-driven food safety interventions. This project’s county-specific reports for Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda will form the basis for targeting food safety gaps, developing resilient food safety policy frameworks, increasing trade opportunities, and reducing the burden of foodborne diseases.

Food safety practices and policies at national and regional levels have a strong impact on food security, trade opportunities, and human development. Each country is a unique environment in terms of food safety policy, food safety awareness, pathogens affecting value chains, and research capacity for managing food safety risks. Analyses of food safety systems and past investments on food safety is a foundation for countries to identify weaknesses, address gaps, select policies and practices that can be scaled up, and assess progress over time.

This project, led by Delia Grace Randolph and Florence Mutua of the International Livestock Research Institute, is conducting a situational analysis and review of investments in food safety in five East Africa Community (EAC) member countries. This analysis documents existing policy and regulatory frameworks, available data on major foodborne diseases associated with livestock, fruits, and vegetables, and current stakeholder awareness of food safety in these food industry sectors.

Assessing previous and on-going food safety investments and evaluating their impact will fuel efforts to identify critical success factors and make recommendations for data-driven food safety interventions. This project’s county-specific reports for Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda will form the basis for targeting food safety gaps, developing resilient food safety policy frameworks, increasing trade opportunities, and reducing the burden of foodborne diseases.

Food safety practices and policies at national and regional levels have a strong impact on food security, trade opportunities, and human development. Each country is a unique environment in terms of food safety policy, food safety awareness, pathogens affecting value chains, and research capacity for managing food safety risks. Analyses of food safety systems and past investments on food safety is a foundation for countries to identify weaknesses, address gaps, select policies and practices that can be scaled up, and assess progress over time.

This project, led by Delia Grace Randolph and Florence Mutua of the International Livestock Research Institute, is conducting a situational analysis and review of investments in food safety in five East Africa Community (EAC) member countries. This analysis documents existing policy and regulatory frameworks, available data on major foodborne diseases associated with livestock, fruits, and vegetables, and current stakeholder awareness of food safety in these food industry sectors.

Assessing previous and on-going food safety investments and evaluating their impact will fuel efforts to identify critical success factors and make recommendations for data-driven food safety interventions. This project’s county-specific reports for Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda will form the basis for targeting food safety gaps, developing resilient food safety policy frameworks, increasing trade opportunities, and reducing the burden of foodborne diseases.

Food safety practices and policies at national and regional levels have a strong impact on food security, trade opportunities, and human development. Each country is a unique environment in terms of food safety policy, food safety awareness, pathogens affecting value chains, and research capacity for managing food safety risks. Analyses of food safety systems and past investments on food safety is a foundation for countries to identify weaknesses, address gaps, select policies and practices that can be scaled up, and assess progress over time.

This project, led by Delia Grace Randolph and Florence Mutua of the International Livestock Research Institute, is conducting a situational analysis and review of investments in food safety in five East Africa Community (EAC) member countries. This analysis documents existing policy and regulatory frameworks, available data on major foodborne diseases associated with livestock, fruits, and vegetables, and current stakeholder awareness of food safety in these food industry sectors.

Assessing previous and on-going food safety investments and evaluating their impact will fuel efforts to identify critical success factors and make recommendations for data-driven food safety interventions. This project’s county-specific reports for Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda will form the basis for targeting food safety gaps, developing resilient food safety policy frameworks, increasing trade opportunities, and reducing the burden of foodborne diseases.

Poultry is an important dietary component for poor and middle-class Kenyan households and a key source of revenue for women and youth. Since poultry is often produced and processed in informal settings which rarely include pathogen mitigation strategies, transmission of pathogenic Salmonella enterica and Campylobacter spp. is a risk. Building an enabling environment for food safety within this sector will improve food security and nutrition for individuals, households, and communities.

This project, led by Barbara Kowalcyk of The Ohio State University, uses a systems-based, risk-informed approach to ask and answer important food safety questions in partnership with small-scale women and youth poultry producers in peri-urban Kiambu County, Kenya. Capacity for food safety is being built through collaborations with stakeholders to identify food safety priorities, characterizing bacterial pathogen contamination at critical control points within the value chains, and developing and evaluating interventions to reduce the risk of foodborne diseases in poultry. In addition, a gender analysis of food safety responsibilities and risks along the poultry value chain will inform research efforts and the creation of culturally appropriate interventions to increase food safety.

The project is effecting systemic change in food safety in Kenya by building a pipeline of food microbiology expertise through educational workshops and trainings in best practices. The risk-based roadmap being developed for decision making and allocating food safety resources can be extended to other value chains and pathogens, enabling Kenya to implement this approach across other sectors of the food industry.

Unsafe and inadequate food consumption, along with low dietary diversity, contribute to foodborne illness and undernutrition in Nepali households. Increasing access to nutrient dense foods, including salad vegetables, can improve dietary diversity, but contamination of produce with foodborne pathogens undermines progress toward nutritional targets. Determining the current barriers to produce safety supply and demand is a foundation for strategic policies and investment to transform the vegetable value chain in Nepal. 

This project, led by Aditya Khanal of Tennessee State University, is using food safety economics to understand the factors influencing production and consumption decisions about produce safety in Nepal. Together with colleagues at Arizona State University, Nepal Agriculture and Forestry University, and SAHAVAGI, they are assessing indicators of bacterial contamination in consumer and grower households, analyzing the food safety awareness and behaviors of vegetable producers and consumers, and identifying incentives for new food safety policies and practices. 

Project outreach will promote greater gender equity and youth participation in safe produce production and support food safety-augmented entrepreneurship. By equipping entrepreneurs and policy makers with guidance for market-led, demand-driven food safety practices and labeling recommendations for fresh produce, informed by analysis of consumer behavior, the project aims to stimulate a rapid increase in access to nutritious produce in Nepal. 

The Global Food Safety Partnership (GFSP) database shows that international donors spent $383 million to support 323 projects to improve food safety throughout Africa between 2010 and 2017. However, the scientific evidence on the burden of foodborne diseases in Senegal—including the risk of contamination in groundnuts—and the effectiveness of food safety mitigation strategies is limited.

This project, led by Jonathan Bauchet of Purdue University, is conducting a landscape overview study to understand and catalog current food safety initiatives and investments taking place in Senegal, including food safety activities funded by USAID and other donors. In addition, a pilot study is assessing the extent of microbial and fungal contamination in groundnuts produced and consumed by rural Senegalese households. At all stages of production, processing, and storage, groundnuts are vulnerable to microbial and fungal contamination that can lead to foodborne illness. The most acute health consequences come from carcinogenic aflatoxins, but the present risk level of fungal and microbial contamination is largely unknown, as is farmers’ awareness of and willingness to use technology to reduce contamination.

This project is generating new insights on the state of food safety of groundnuts and an understanding of the points in production, storage, and processing where food safety interventions can reduce fungal and bacterial contamination. For Senegal’s food system, more information on the prevalence of foodborne diseases at the national and local levels will aid in establishing legal norms and on-the-ground monitoring and enforcement systems to reduce food contaminants.

Dairy production in Senegal is a rapidly growing sector, but it relies on a diverse and fragmented supply chain of individual small farms, aggregation centers, artisanal processing facilities, and transport without refrigeration, creating a challenging situation for food safety. Building food safety capacity in Senegal’s dairy sector in the early stages of its development is a foundation for a resilient, safe dairy industry, reduced foodborne disease, and improved market access.

This project, led by Manpreet Singh of the University of Georgia, is creating systemic change in food safety capacity across the dairy value chain in Senegal. The holistic approach includes raising awareness of food safety issues and their impact on public health, conducting research-based food safety training programs, identifying practical food safety interventions, and coordinating comprehensive food safety regulations aligned with government policies. An integrated gender research and training strategy is supporting women dairy operators who have traditionally dominated milk and dairy production and sales but whose contributions, expertise, and needs are often underrepresented in food safety practices.

This project is enhancing awareness of food safety issues in the dairy value chain, assisting food processing operations in implementing food safety standards, and creating a pipeline of well-equipped food safety professionals in Senegal. This building of human and institutional capacity in food safety is catalyzing systemic change in the dairy sector in Senegal, which will reduce the burden of foodborne disease and enhance economic development in rural areas.