Evidence and Action Towards Safe, Nutritious Food (EatSafe)
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10568/114536
EatSafe is a five-year multi-country project funded by the United States Agency for International Development to enable lasting improvements in the safety of nutritious foods in informal markets by focusing on the consumer. The project is led by the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) in partnership with International Livestock Research Institute and Pierce Mill Entertainment and Education.
https://www.gainhealth.org/impact/programmes/eatsafe
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Item Food safety research evidence for action: Experiences from Ethiopia(Presentation, 2024-06-25) Amenu, Kebede; Alonso, Silvia; Mutua, Florence; Sinh Dang-Xuan; Knight-Jones, Theodore J.D.; Grace, DeliaItem Food safety: The biggest development challenge you’ve never heard of(Video, 2023-10-30) Global Alliance for Improved NutritionDelia Grace Randolph, the world’s leading researcher on food safety in traditional markets makes a case for investment in food safety. Impacting billions of people directly and indirectly every year, foodborne disease (FBD) is a low-hanging fruit in the development agenda to improve the quality of life in LMICs. Feed The Future’s EatSafe: Evidence and Action Towards Safe, Nutritious Food (EatSafe), highlights how the problem is immense, tractable, and has been neglected for decades by governments and international donors. Minimizing FBD in traditional markets not only prevents people from getting sick, but it helps seize the full potential of investments in nutrition, health, education, and financial independence. Traditional markets are the main source of nutrition for billions of people around the globe. They are often the main source of income for women and a hub of communal life. But with development dollars largely going to agriculture and nutrition programs, these market vendors have been neglected by the donors for decades. Traditional market vendors often lack the necessary infrastructure, food handling skills, and incentives to ensure that the food they sell is safe to consume. As a too common result, the available perishable, and highly nutritious foods, like meat, GLV, eggs, and dairy, often contain pathogens, such as salmonella, that compromise human health--particularly in young children, the elderly population, and the immunosuppressed. But this challenge presents a great opportunity to improve the lives of millions of people globally. With the reduction of a relatively small number of pathogens from these markets, we could eliminate more than 80% of the disease. How do we do that? Delia walks us through the Three-Legged Stool Approach to food safety: creating enabling environments, training vendors, and ensuring that incentives are in place for the vendors to change their food handling practices. She stresses that consumer demand for safe food must be the engine that gives the momentum to the work toward safer food in traditional markets.Item Quantitative assessment of aflatoxin exposure and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) risk associated with consumption of select Nigerian staple foods(Journal Article, 2023-03-01) Wenndt, A.; Mutua, Florence K.; Grace, Delia; Thomas, Lian F.; Lambertini, E.Aflatoxin contamination of staple grains and legumes has been linked to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and other adverse health outcomes, constituting a substantial public health concern globally. Low-resource food environments in sub-Saharan Africa are often under-regulated and are particularly vulnerable to adverse health and nutrition outcomes associated with aflatoxin exposure. This study identifies levels of HCC risk in the northern Nigerian adult population, leveraging a systematic review of available evidence on aflatoxin contamination in Nigerian maize, groundnut, rice, cowpea, and soybean. Estimated dietary intake (EDI) was computed using publicly available dietary consumption data and a probabilistic quantitative risk assessment was conducted to determine the relative risk of HCC associated with consumption of selected aflatoxin-contaminated commodities. In total, 41 eligible studies reporting aflatoxin contamination were used to model the distribution of aflatoxin concentrations in Nigerian commodities. EDIs for maize, groundnut, rice, and cowpea exceeded the provisional maximum tolerable daily intake (PMTDI) level of 1 kgbw-1 day-1, with maize yielding the highest mean EDI (36.7 kgbw-1 day-1). The quantitative risk assessment estimated that 1.77, 0.44, 0.43, 0.15, and 0.01 HCC cases per year/100,000 population were attributable to aflatoxin exposure through maize, groundnut, rice, cowpea, and soybean, respectively. Sensitivity analysis revealed that aflatoxin concentration, dietary consumption levels, consumption frequency, and other variables have differing relative contributions to HCC risk across commodities. These findings constitute a novel multi-study risk assessment approach in the Nigerian context and substantiate existing evidence suggesting that there is reason for public health concern regarding aflatoxin exposure in the Nigerian population.Item Food safety interventions in low- and middle-income countries in Asia: A systematic review(Journal Article, 2023-05) Kwoba, Emmah; Oduori, David O.; Lambertini, E.; Thomas, Lian F.; Grace, Delia; Mutua, Florence K.Effective and sustainable interventions are necessary for long-term improvement of food safety. This review provides a summary of food safety interventions evaluated in selected low- and middle-income countries in Asia between 2000 and 2020. A systematic screening of published articles from PubMed and CabDirect databases was carried out with the aid of Rayyan QCRI software. A total of 25 studies were considered in the review. A ‘before and after’ study design was the most frequently used design (64%), while five studies (20%) used a randomized control trial (RCT) design. Interventions applied focused on training to improve knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) towards safe food (60%) or on specific technologies (40%). Nine of the 25 studies were specific on the value chain considered: cattle (1), poultry (1), pigs (4) and fish value chains (3). Except for one study, all interventions reported some level of success; 17 were rated as having a high level of success, defined differently across studies. However, there is a clear evidence gap for the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of food safety interventions in market settings, both consumer- and vendor-facing. A rigorous and standardized assessment of intervention effectiveness and sustainability is recommended, to not only identify areas of improvement, but also to ensure scaling of interventions with demonstrated evidence of success and sustainability.Item Foodborne zoonoses control in low- and middle-income countries: Identifying aspects of interventions relevant to traditional markets which act as hurdles when mitigating disease transmission(Journal Article, 2022-12-22) Leahy, Eithne; Mutua, Florence K.; Grace, Delia; Lambertini, E.; Thomas, Lian F.Globally, foodborne zoonoses are responsible for approximately one third of all foodborne disease burden and this picture is likely to worsen if consumption of animal source foods continues to rise with insufficient attention to risk mitigation. Traditional markets represent highly important nodes that can be targeted for risk mitigation; in this series of case studies, we discuss food safety interventions relevant to this nexus. We illustrate that to improve food safety within traditional markets it is essential to consider some of the motivations and incentives of the stakeholders involved and the cultural, social, and economic context in which interventions are undertaken, highlighting barriers, enablers future interventions should aim to avoid, embrace. We also conclude that a holistic approach to foodborne zoonoses control will require the institutionalization of One Health across food systems of which traditional markets are part.Item Scaling food safety innovations in traditional markets(Presentation, 2022-12-13) Grace, DeliaItem Literature review on foodborne disease hazards in food and beverages in Ethiopia(Report, 2022-03) Mutua, Florence K.; Mutie, Ianetta; Kuboka, Maureen; Leahy, Eithne; Grace, DeliaItem Review of food safety training in low- and middle-income countries(Report, 2022-09) Bettridge, Judy M.; Thomas, Lian F.; Mutua, Florence K.; Pal, H.; Grace, DeliaItem Assessing food safety interventions relevant to foodborne zoonoses in low- and middle-income countries(Report, 2021-03) Leahy, Eithne; Thomas, Lian F.; Mutua, Florence K.; Grace, DeliaItem Analysis of food safety investments in Nigeria: A review(Report, 2020-09) Grace, DeliaItem Enabling safer food in traditional markets(Video, 2022-06) Grace, DeliaTraditional food markets are unique environments where millions of people access nutritious foods every day across the globe. These markets account for the largest distribution share of fresh foods in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), foods that are essential for improved nutrition outcomes in the communities they serve. At the same time, the health burden of unsafe food is unequally distributed among countries, with the greatest impacts in LMICs. Deeper understanding of traditional markets is essential for risk management of foodborne hazards. This webinar discusses ways to create an enabling environment to best adopt new tools and approaches to improve food safety in traditional markets that can help decrease the burden of foodborne disease. This webinar is one of several Health Talks presented by the World Health Organization in celebration of World Food Safety Day 2022.Item When zoonotic foodborne disease keeps markets hostage, consumers may hold the key(Blog Post, 2020-04) Lambertini, E.; McClafferty, B.; Mutua, Florence K.; Grace, DeliaItem Assessment of foodborne disease hazards in beverages consumed in Nigeria: A systematic literature review(Journal Article, 2022-01-01) Oduori, David O.; Kwoba, Emmah; Thomas, Lian F.; Grace, Delia; Mutua, Florence K.Risk assessment is a formal process of identifying hazards and assessing the risk associated with them (risk is a combination of the severity of illness and the probability of occurrence). This review highlights foodborne disease hazards reported in beverages consumed in Nigeria for the period between 2000 and 2020. Based on a preregistered protocol and search syntax, studies were retrieved from the PubMed, Google Scholar, and ScienceDirect databases. Rayyan QCRI software was used to screen the articles. Data were then extracted from the included full-text articles, into a standardized excel workbook. A total of 18,762 articles were identified, from which 126 were included in the final analyses. The common beverages studied were sachet water (14.9%), borehole/well water (13.9%), cereal-based beverages (12.1%), raw/fresh milk (8.3%) and nono/nunu, which is a fermented milk-cereal beverage (7.2%). Sufficient data were available to undertake pooled prevalence estimates for some hazards within select beverages and revealed contamination rates for Staphylococcus spp. in raw/fresh milk, 12.3% (95% CI 6.3–20.0); Salmonella spp. in borehole/well water, 19.8% (95% CI 13.1–27.4); Klebsiella spp. in sachet water, 40.0% (95% CI 12.4–71.7); Staphylococcus spp. in nono/nunu, 32.6% (95% CI 14.7–53.8), and Escherichia spp. in nono/nunu, 30.7% (95% CI 21.9–40.2). Heterogeneity was present in the aggregate summary estimates. This review has highlighted the presence of several hazards of high importance to public health in commonly consumed beverages in Nigeria. The data presented here provide an entry point for future quantitative risk assessments both to determine the level of exposure of the community to these hazards and also for the identification of the most effective mitigation strategies to reduce these risks and improve health outcomes in Nigeria.Item Stories from the forefront: Interviews with social and behavior change communications media professionals(Report, 2020-09) Pierce Mill Entertainment and EducationItem Consumer-facing interventions to improve food safety perceptions and practices in low- and middle-income countries: A review(Report, 2020-09) Global Alliance for Improved NutritionItem Global review of consumer and vendor perspectives on food safety(Report, 2020-09) Global Alliance for Improved NutritionItem Nigeria policy, monitoring systems analysis and stakeholder mapping report(Report, 2020-12) Global Alliance for Improved NutritionItem Review of measures and indicators for food safety performance(Report, 2020-11) Global Alliance for Improved NutritionItem Literature review linking food safety and nutrition(Report, 2020-11) Global Alliance for Improved NutritionItem Integrating food safety and nutrition for improved health and wellbeing: A new lens on food system frameworks(Report, 2020-12) Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition