Researchers from the ZERO2FIVE Food Industry Centre at Cardiff Metropolitan University will be giving out thermometers during the Amgueddfa Cymru Food Festival in Cardiff on Sept. 9.

As part of the “Is your fridge cold enough?” project, 1,000 people will get a free thermometer to take home. They will be asked to upload information about the temperature of their fridge to an online portal. 

Data collection started at another event in August, where 500 thermometers were distributed. Work continues into October, after which data analysis will take place and findings will be prepared as an abstract for presentation at the International Association for Food Protection (IAFP) conference in 2024.

The citizen science project aims to obtain information about the operating temperatures of as many fridges as possible to determine if they are storing food safely. People who take part will be entered into a competition to win one prize of a £100 voucher ($125).

How to take part
Scientists will talk people through what they need to do and there will be a bilingual information sheet as part of the thermometer pack. Participants need to put the thermometer in the fridge door storage area and leave the door closed for at least 15 minutes. Past research has found the door of the refrigerator to be the warmest place in the fridge.

Then they should open the fridge and take a picture of the temperature on the thermometer.

Participants either scan the QR code or visit the web address on the information sheet to upload an image of the temperature displayed. On the portal there are questions regarding demographics, the temperature, and refrigeration practices. The portal to submit temperature information will remain open until October 9.

When a temperature above the recommended 5 degrees C (41 degrees F) is recorded, people are told that having a fridge operating at this level can encourage food poisoning organisms and spoilage bacteria to grow quicker. The portal also tells participants that they can reduce the risk of illness and help prevent food waste by gradually adjusting the dial, so temperature on the thermometer is 5 degrees C or less.

Benefit of citizen science projects
To take part in the project, visit ZERO2FIVE’s researchers in the Good Food Cardiff Zone area at the food festival in St Fagans National Museum of History.

Previous ZERO2FIVE research has found that people trust their fridges to ensure food is safe to eat, often without checking they are functioning at the correct temperature. Most households do not have refrigerator thermometers, meaning people may be storing food above the recommended 5 degrees C (41 degree F). This can lead to faster growth of spoilage and food poisoning bacteria.

Ellen Evans, who is leading the project, said: “This exciting citizen science project will give people a chance to take part in important research, but most importantly it will enable people to check whether their fridge is operating at a safe temperature and potentially reduce their risk of getting food poisoning. Fridge thermometers are an invaluable tool, and this is a great opportunity to get hold of one for free.” 

Meanwhile, the UK Association for Food Protection Conference has been scheduled at the All Nations Centre in Cardiff on Nov. 22, 2023. Speakers and the final program have yet to be confirmed.

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The Standards and Trade Development Facility (STDF) aims to improve sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) capacity in developing and least developed countries.

STDF was established by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), World Organisation for Animal Health, the World Bank Group, World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Trade Organization (WTO).

“Compliance with SPS requirements is already a major challenge for many developing countries. Climate change is making this even more difficult. Strengthening developing countries’ SPS systems, including capacities to monitor and control new pests and diseases, is more important than ever and will contribute to increased food production and food security,” said Melvin Spreij, head of the STDF.

Project examples
STDF works with government institutions, international organizations and development partners in different sectors to enhance compliance with international food safety, animal and plant health standards and facilitate safe food trade.

The annual report highlights projects such as improving the safety and quality of Sudan’s sesame seeds; enhancing compliance with phytosanitary measures in Uganda’s fruit and vegetable sectors; promoting good agricultural practices in Tajikistan’s honey and apricot value chains; and increasing fish exports from the Solomon Islands.

Stories were shared from Djibouti, India and Tanzania, highlighting results that can be achieved when government authorities and the private sector work together on trade. Ongoing projects include enhancing food safety capacity of the pepper value chain in Jamaica and piloting a voluntary third party assurance (vTPA) program in East Africa.

STDF members also continued learning about the use of data-driven approaches to boost safe trade and accelerate economic growth, including electronic phytosanitary certificates.

Projects help to improve compliance with international standards within and across countries and regions. Some initiatives struggled to catch up on delays made worse by the pandemic. In certain cases, staff turnover caused additional challenges for in-country commitment and political instability was an issue in some parts of West Africa.

Program financing
Eight projects were approved while another 17 are ongoing. Fifteen donors contributed more than $6.5 million in funding. The next deadline to submit project funding proposals is Aug. 11 and these will be considered by STDF in November 2023. Pending initiatives include reducing histamine in tuna in Indonesia and managing aflatoxins in maize in Uganda.

“The STDF is working to create a world where food traded is safe and secure for all, and also to facilitate the compliance of relevant standards by developing countries’ exports,” said Jean-Marie Paugam, WTO Deputy Director-General. 

In May 2023, Germany’s Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture announced a contribution of €150,000 ($165,000) to the STDF.

Bettina Waldmann said: “By helping developing countries tackle sanitary and phytosanitary challenges, we are making a contribution to improving SPS systems and ensuring safe agricultural food trade globally. Building SPS capacity is key to raising food security levels, protecting the environment and securing people’s livelihoods.”

Spreij said the support would benefit producers, traders and governments along global and regional value chains, helping them raise export revenues, income levels and living standards. 

Money will be used to strengthen the ability of small-scale farmers, producers and traders to gain and maintain access to markets for food and agriculture products through SPS projects, knowledge sharing, and monitoring and evaluation of results.

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The study summarizes interventions evaluated in some low- and middle-income countries in Asia between 2000 and 2020 and the outcome on knowledge, attitude and practice, hazard presence, and effects on health. 

Overall, 25 studies were considered. A ‘before and after’ study design was the most frequently used.

Methods focused on training to improve knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) towards safe food or on specific technologies. Nine studies were specific as they looked at cattle, poultry, pigs, and fish value chains. All but one reported some level of success. Some food safety work targeted dedicated hazards, including Taenia solium, E. coli, zoonotic fish trematodes, fecal coliforms, and fecal Streptococcus.

How to judge success
However, there is a clear evidence gap for the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of food safety interventions in market settings, said researchers.

“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.”

Findings will be used to inform the design of tools implemented as part of the EatSafe: Evidence and Action Towards Safe, Nutritious Food project. The review of interventions may help with decisions on what can be scaled up and what modifications may be needed in different contexts, found in the study published in the journal Zoonoses and Public Health.

The 25 studies were done in India, Vietnam, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Laos, Malaysia, Thailand, and Nepal.

In ‘before and after’ studies, the outcome of interest was measured before and after the implementation of the intervention. Five studies used randomized control trials. Two groups were considered, one group received the intervention while the other did not and acted as a control. Two studies measured adoption.

Most interventions were applied at the household or food vendor level and focused on consumer safety. Sixteen studies involved informal food vendors and seven were in formal sector settings.

Training and technology
Sector-specific studies covered the household or vendor level; market and retail; farm and production or the processing stage.

An increase in knowledge through training and the provision of food safety information was the main outcome measured in most studies. In some cases, this was shown to lead to improved food handling practices and a reduction in the occurrence of foodborne hazards.

Most training interventions evaluated changes in knowledge, attitudes, and practices. All those with technology measured hazard, health or hazard, and health outcomes. While learning fades with time and requires refreshment; new technologies, once adopted can be integrated into normal working. In terms of costs and complexity, some technologies were simpler and cheaper than training but others were more complex and expensive.

Interventions in the review did not provide sufficient information to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of the programs. More studies are needed to assess the effectiveness of different food safety intervention strategies and factors influencing their uptake and sustainability, said scientists.

All the studies used different definitions of success, not always based on clear targets. Due to the lack of standardized measures or indicators of efficacy and lack of data on the costs incurred or avoided, scientists said no evaluations can be made on the cost-effectiveness of different studies. The success of the interventions was subject to the reviewer’s judgment.

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The efforts, involving the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), were in Belarus, Armenia and Georgia.

Improving the system in Belarus
Work in Belarus, with an FAO contribution of $310,000, ran from April 2019 to December 2021. Delays were experienced because of administrative constraints and issues with recruitment of international consultants.

The country’s food safety control system has a multi-agency framework that involves the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Agriculture and Food, and the State Committee for Standardization. These agencies work independently, with overlapping mandates and responsibilities.

The project assessed the existing system and provided recommendations to optimize it. However, it was not possible to complete the self-assessment of the current system for official food control.

Improvements were made to the national food safety framework, priority official food control functions, and the abilities of national experts. It is hoped this will help the production of safe and quality food for the domestic market, and increase competitiveness in international trade, according to a project summary.

About 100 people were trained in risk assessment, risk communication, and international food safety notification systems. Several training courses were delivered to increase the practical capacities of laboratory analysis.

Accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) and export market diversification are high priorities for Belarus.

Producers and exporters of meat and dairy gained knowledge about the diversification of export markets and were provided with marketing and technical information on export to China, Vietnam, the United Arab Emirates and European Union, which were selected as key markets.

Help with risk in Armenia
A project in Armenia, with an FAO contribution of $315,000, ran from May 2019 to December 2021.

The Food Safety Inspectorate Body (FSIB), the agency for official food safety controls, animal and plant health, said a risk assessment methodology in food safety, veterinary and phytosanitary services was needed. Improved capacity in risk assessment would help to ensure food safety and animal health controls in Armenia, and aid authorities to better respond to trade requirements.

Methods included training courses, direct expert advice, and guidance materials on risk analysis. This covered risk-based and evidence-based approaches in decision-making, risk ranking, chemical and microbiological risk assessment and risk-based food inspection.

The country’s government is also currently working on a national food safety strategy.

The project was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic as well as political and economic unrest in the country.

It is hoped that enhanced capacities of the authorities on risk management and assessment in food safety, animal and plant health will improve the safety and quality of food produced and consumed in Armenia and increase competitiveness in international trade.

Animal controls in Georgia
Another project supported the creation of a European Union-compliant identification and traceability system for livestock in Georgia.

The purpose of the National Animal Identification, Registration and Traceability System (NAITS) is to help improve the health of livestock through the control and eradication of some major diseases and to improve food safety through the traceability of cattle, small ruminants and pigs.

NAITS is based on open source frameworks to avoid any licensing costs. Equipment was provided for intended users of the software and slaughterhouse staff and National Food Agency field veterinarians were trained.

The Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture and National Food Agency can now identify, register and track livestock animal health prevention and response actions.

The expected impact of the five-year project, which ended in December 2021, was an increase in incomes, competitiveness and productivity because of improved animal health, reduced food risks and a boost in access to regional and international markets.

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The report covers efforts from 2013 to 2019 in Bangladesh, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). It was designed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) with the Ministry of Food in Bangladesh.

The main recommendation is for FAO to support BFSA in doing a self-assessment of the food control system in Bangladesh to identify priority areas for improvement. There is also a risk some of the main achievements won’t last, according to the evaluation.

In 2013, the Government of Bangladesh passed the Bangladesh Food Safety Act and the Bangladesh Food Safety Authority (BFSA) was founded in 2015.

Devastating situation
Project aims were to support the newly established authority; assist the revision of food regulations, rules and standards to increase coherence; improve coordination among the different agencies and ministries involved in food safety; and support the development of a third-party verification/inspection system.

The food safety situation in Bangladesh was described as “devastating” in the report. However, no studies have been conducted in the country to quantify the public health burden of foodborne disease. If World Health Organization (WHO) estimates for the Southeast Asia region in 2010 are applied to Bangladesh, there would be more than 12 million illnesses and 14,000 deaths per year.

Bangladesh has the ability to export various food products but has not been able to fully leverage this potential partly due to the weakness of its food safety system and food standards.

Advances were made in raising awareness of food safety as a shared responsibility between public services, food businesses and consumers and a strong drive to adopt an integrated farm-to-fork approach in the poultry and mango sectors was created.

However, while the project provided support for implementation of a risk-based inspection approach, it did not address the development of data collection and processing skills, risk ranking and risk assessment tools or integrate the principles of risk analysis used in food safety systems.

Training and testing
A risk-based inspection or control policy is not yet feasible due to the lack of industry information and absence of a risk assessment for the major biological and chemical hazards in Bangladesh, as well as the lack of staff with related experience.

A large number of people were trained but sometimes the limited duration did not lead to a significant increase in participants’ skills. A survey sent to inspectors who took part in training showed that many of them did not master some of the basic concepts of risk-based inspection.

The BFSA is considering developing a food contamination monitoring plan to help determine priorities but is struggling with capacity issues.

Food safety testing capacity remains a weak element of the food control system in Bangladesh and coordination of laboratory activities is inadequate, as they are not properly geared towards generating data suitable for risk assessments.

USAID has funded another project, from 2020 to 2024, working with BFSA on capacity development and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has signed an agreement with the Government of Bangladesh on a project to enhance food safety control systems through strengthening the inspection, regulatory and coordinating function of BFSA.

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The FAO has trained environmental health personnel in the country on food safety risk analysis, focusing on risk assessment, risk management and risk communication.

Based on the FAO/WHO Food Safety Risk Analysis Guide for National Food Safety Authorities, FAO and the government of Zimbabwe have trained 311 food inspectors since November 2021.

Efforts fall under the European Union-funded Transforming Zimbabwe’s Animal Health and Food Safety Systems for the Future (SAFE) project, part of the Zimbabwe Agricultural Growth Program (ZAGP).

“It is important to have a well prepared food inspection service that can achieve rapid and cost-efficient control of hazardous foods,” said Victor Nyamandi, director in the Department of Environmental Health Services, Ministry of Health and Child Care (MoHCC).

Focus on education
Speaking about training in April, Nyamandi said: “Overall, the training strengthened the capacity and skills of environmental health officers in the ministry, on the application of risk based approaches during food safety inspections, including familiarizing participants with notions of risk, food and hazard combinations.”

An environmental health curriculum has been launched to improve food safety knowledge, behaviors, attitudes, and skills of Zimbabwe’s public health officers.

Nyamandi said it offers standardization to international best practices and includes new practical based modules like emergency preparedness and disaster management, monitoring and evaluation plus meat hygiene and inspection.

Margaret Tawodzera, MoHCC food safety manager, said that workshops enhanced the ability of inspectors to identify high-risk foods or preparation processes as well as enabling them to focus on those foods or processes that are more likely to cause foodborne illness if uncontrolled.

The project also covers development of documents such as the country’s food safety strategy, food establishments’ minimum health guidelines and food recall regulations.

“FAO under the SAFE project is also assisting the Department of Environmental Health Services to develop standard operating procedures, capacity building through procurement of food inspection kits and development of a food safety and port health information management system,” said project coordinator Basil Mugweni from the FAO.

Wider FAO work
The FAO is also part of efforts to educate food safety professionals in East Africa.

FAO, the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and Lloyd’s Register Foundation, recently held a workshop with the Inter-University Council of East Africa and local experts to establish benchmarks for undergraduate food safety programs in the region.

Following a survey of stakeholders from countries including Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Uganda and Tanzania, the group mapped core competencies expected of food safety graduates, with learning objectives for knowledge; practical, cognitive and interpersonal skills as well as attitudes. Learning objectives were aligned with university courses that could prepare students to meet these targets.

Jeffrey LeJeune, FAO food safety officer, said the work has identified skills and learning objectives for graduates that are specific to the region and involve science.

“For example, experts prioritized the need to train students in a holistic or One Health approach, including skills in communication and behavioral sciences, to be able to address complex issues in food systems such as emerging foodborne diseases and the ability adapt to new technologies and tools, such as bioinformatics, to predict, prevent, detect, control, and respond to foodborne disease threats.”

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The effort, funded by Turkey, includes Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, the Republic of Moldova, Tajikistan and Turkey. It will include regional capacity development events and country-level activities.

In recent years, these nations have taken steps to improve their food control structures to cover all stages of food production and processing from farm-to-table.

However, systems of the countries are at different stages of development, so the project will focus on specific country needs and several common challenges from a regional perspective, according to officials.

Effective food safety and quality control systems are key to safeguard the health and well-being of people and to improve livelihoods by promoting access to wider markets.

The project will help the sharing of knowledge and experiences among the countries, that can also benefit from Turkish expertise.

Work falls under the jurisdiction of the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) partnership program with Turkey on food and agriculture.

Fruit and vegetable safety in Kyrgyzstan
Meanwhile, another FAO project involves Kyrgyzstan and improving food safety management in the country’s fruit and vegetable sector.

The work is funded by a $570,000 contribution from the Standards and Trade Development Facility (STDF) and will support implementation of modern risk-based food safety management systems in fruit and vegetable production and processing. This will help local producers ensure safety of their products, and increase access to domestic and international markets, mainly members of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), which the Kyrgyz Republic joined in August 2015.

Adnan Quereshi, FAO representative in Kyrgyzstan, said: “The project will have a positive impact on development of the fruit and vegetable sector and will provide an impetus to increase sales of Kyrgyz fruit and vegetables, which will ultimately lead to an increase in the profitability of small farms and processors in connection with the improvement of the fruit and vegetable industry.”

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food Industry and Melioration and Association of Fruit and Vegetable Enterprises (AFVE) are also involved in the project, which runs until the end of 2022.

In a December 2020 virtual inception workshop organized by FAO, Dilbara Alimzhanova, AFVE director, said that producers are facing difficulties in accessing domestic and export markets because of non-compliance with food safety requirements. Reasons for this include limited financial and technical capacities, lack of technical expertise and guidance, and outdated inspection systems.

Mary Kenny, FAO food safety and consumer protection officer, said technical knowledge of authority staff on doing risk-based inspection and analysis and revising audit procedures will be improved.

“Within the framework of this project, a standardized training system will be created to build capacities on internationally accepted risk-based food safety management systems including Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP), Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP), Good Hygiene Practices (GHP) and Good Agricultural Practices (GAP).”

Finally, late this past year, a final meeting was held as part of the FAO project on technical support to the Azerbaijan Food Safety Agency (AFSA) with institutional reform and management.

The online seminar discussed the project, which ran in 2019 and 2020. Elkhan Mikayilov, chairman of the AFSA, said the agency is benefiting from the FAO’s experience and is looking at the principle of a risk-based approach.

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