Project
FS4Africa
Across Africa, food safety challenges persist due to weak value chain organisation, poor traceability, and inadequate authentication mechanisms. Mycotoxin contamination affects various food crops, while pesticide residues and microbial contamination, notably Escherichia coli, pose serious health risks. Food adulteration further threatens public health and regional trade. The EU-funded FS4Africa project aims to transform food safety systems, particularly in the informal sector, through policy development, capacity building, and innovative technology. Led by experts from Africa and Europe, it takes an interdisciplinary approach to protecting human, animal, and environmental health while supporting sustainable development.
Introduction
Against this background, FS4Africa aims to improve African food safety systems, focusing on the informal sector, by transforming local markets to enhance food security and regional trade while minimising negative impacts on the environment, biodiversity, health, and society. This will be achieved by generating data and evidence on trade actors in the informal sector through use cases; developing policy guidance, business concepts, and tools to improve food safety and facilitate integration into the formal food system; co-developing solutions and business cases using multi-actor approaches; and incubating, accelerating, and scaling up solutions through innovation hubs that support and train local SMEs, start-ups, and entrepreneurs.
Project description
The implementation of FS4Africa activities is organised into work packages (WPs), with WP4 structured around use cases that generate data and evidence. The WPs cover six key areas: policy and regulation (WP1), knowledge management (WP2), building block establishment (WP3), use case implementation (WP4), ecosystem and upscaling (WP5), and coordination and monitoring (WP6). WP1 and WP2 focus on strategy and knowledge improvement by reviewing existing frameworks and identifying gaps in informal food safety.
WP3 and WP4, where the INF group makes significant contributions, involve consultative assessments based on existing information, questionnaires, and on-site experiments. These WPs ensure that strategy and knowledge recommendations are tailored to the informal food safety sector within the African context. WP3 develops frameworks to enhance food safety in the informal sector through innovative approaches, while WP4 applies a multi-actor approach to create food safety solutions via use cases.
To scale innovations and ensure sustainability, WP5 will establish an ecosystem providing actors with access to tools, resources, and mentorship to support their food value chain contributions within the project's food safety frameworks. Two open calls, conducted transparently with independent evaluators, will provide cascaded funding to roll out solutions to the market while also seeking additional investment. WP5 will further enhance impact dissemination and visibility of food safety improvements. WP6, led by IITA with contributions from all consortium members, will coordinate and manage project activities, ensuring effective implementation and dissemination.security, facilitate regional trade, and improve the livelihoods of millions across the continent.