Food Protection Trends - November/December 2022 - 494

TABLE 1. Select African countries and their agricultural outputs
Country
TABLE 1. Select African countries and their agricultural outputs
Country
Agricultural Output
Agricultural Output
Nigeria
Nigeria
Ivory Coast
Ivory Coast
Ghana
Ghana
Kenya
Kenya
Botswana
Botswana
Tanzania
Tanzania
Ethiopia Ethiopia
Uganda
Uganda
Largest producer of yams
globally: 70-76% of world
production
Largest producer of yams
globally: 70-76% of world
production
Largest producer of cocoa
globally
Largest producer of cocoa
globally
Second largest producer of
cocoa globally
Second largest producer of
cocoa globally
Leading exporter of black
tea and cut flowers globally
9th largest beef exporter to the
European Union
9th largest beef exporter to
the European Union
Largest producer of sunflower
seeds in East Africa
Largest producer of
sunflower seeds in East
Africa
5th largest producer and
exporter of coffee globally
& largest producer in Africa
8th largest producer and
exporter of coffee globally
Several other countries in Africa
have considerable agricultural outputs
as well, of which select examples are
provided in Table 1.
Food safety and hunger in Africa -
are these competing concepts?
When one is hungry, one will eat
anything.
Before one can engage in a
discussion on food safety in Africa,
one must first understand the context
in which it exists (or doesn't) and so
first, we must discuss hunger.
The World Food Programme
(WFP), the Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO) and other United
Nations (UN) agencies reported in
their State of Food and Nutrition
in the World 2022 report, that 828
million people went hungry in 2021
and that many more may be at
peril as climate change takes effect
together with the war in Ukraine
which has sent food, fuel and fertilizer
prices rocketing (44). Similarly, the
International Monetary Fund warned
that Africa faces a new shock as food
and fuel prices escalate. What with
about 40% of consumer spending
in Africa on food (and rising) and
approximately 85% of the region's
8th largest producer and
exporter of coffee globally
5th largest producer and
exporter of coffee globally &
largest producer in Africa
Leading exporter of black tea
and cut flowers globally
(15)
(15)
(29)
(29)
(29)
(29)
(41)
(41)
(38)
(38)
(23)
(23)
(28)
(28)
(28)
Reference
Reference
(28)
They appear on dustbin days in
neighborhoods and remove household
waste from bins to reclaim
recyclable materials. Soon after the
source of the listeriosis outbreak
was announced by the National
Department of Health on 04 March
2018 i.e. Enterprise " polony " (a type
of bologna sausage), consumers
discarded any polony and other cold
meats they had in their refrigerators
in a panic, into their waste bins.
Waste pickers were finding these
processed meats, some of which
were the contaminated product and
eating it, driven by hunger (39). They
would have unlikely visited a hospital
to seek treatment if they had fallen ill.
In Kenya in 2004, 317 cases of
acute aflatoxicosis occurred, with 125
recorded deaths due to consumption
of highly contaminated maize (24).
Driven by hunger, several people
who were discharged after treatment
in hospitals continued to eat the
contaminated maize, as that was all
they had with which to fill their bellies.
wheat imported, together with higher
food and fuel prices, the poor would
be hurt disproportionately and would
increase food insecurity on the continent
(32).
In South Africa, in July 2022,
basic food prices rose nearly 13%,
worsening the country's already
existing food security crisis. This
prompted warnings that social
instability would increase and likely
trigger a repeat of the devastating
unrest that was experienced in July
2021 (14). Even though the July 2021
unrest was for political reasons, it
was described as the worst violence
since apartheid (37), during which
354 people died, (35) and the cost to
the country was in the region of ZAR
70 billion (~US$ 4 billion) (19), which
it could ill afford while emerging from
the pandemic.
Two incidents in Africa occurred
which illustrates the need to fill
one's belly, overriding any food
safety considerations; the listeriosis
outbreak in SA in 2017/2018 and
the acute aflatoxicosis poisoning in
Kenya in 2004.
In SA, " waste pickers " are poor
people with no jobs who eke out a
meager living by separating waste
and selling what is recyclable.
494 Food Protection Trends November/December
Foodborne disease versus other
diseases in Africa
There are other serious illnesses
in Africa that claim hundreds of
thousands of lives every year. These
are malaria, which claims ~602,000
lives (47) and HIV/AIDS, which claims
~420,000 lives (46); in total, over 1
million lives. How does one balance
already scarce resources for these
two major killers in Africa and the
need to provide food for the hungry,
with food safety, when foodborne
disease causes 137,000 deaths
annually on the continent (45), amidst
other important influences i.e. political
turmoil and corruption? The answer
is, with great difficulty! Nevertheless,
perseverance is key and every
individual can make a difference.
To this end, several recent positive
developments in Africa have placed
a spotlight on food safety.
The African Union declared its
intent to develop a continental food
safety agency in February 2019 after
which it published its Sanitary and
Phytosanitary Policy Framework for
Africa in October 2019 (5). One year
later, in October 2020, it established
the African Union Food Safety Panel
and Advisory Group, of which I am
honored to be a member. In June
2021, a meeting of several experts
21
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