Category Archives: Food Safety

New study recommends continued research on the possible role pigs could play in transmitting Ebola in Uganda
A4NH / Agri-Health / Article / Disease Control / East Africa / Emerging Diseases / Epidemiology / Food Safety / FSZ / Geodata / Human Health / ILRI / Pigs / Spotlight / Uganda

New study recommends continued research on the possible role pigs could play in transmitting Ebola in Uganda

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A new risk assessment paper, Assessing the potential role of pigs in the epidemiology of the Ebola virus in Uganda, was published in the science journal Transboundary and Emerging Diseases on 27 Aug 2015. The authors are scientists at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI). Presently, there is no solid evidence that pigs have any role in the past outbreaks of Ebola virus disease. But the risk assessment paper indicates that further research on the role pigs may play in Ebola virus transmission in Uganda is warranted. Continue reading →

Ways forward for food safety in countries bearing the brunt of the world’s food-borne diseases
A4NH / Agri-Health / Article / Consumption / Food Safety / FSZ / Human Health / ILRI / Markets / Policy / Spotlight

Ways forward for food safety in countries bearing the brunt of the world’s food-borne diseases

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A new paper on food safety in low- and middle-income countries was published today by ILRI’s Delia Grace. The paper is based on a longer learning resource commissioned for the UK Department for International Development (DFID), which will be out shortly. Both publications reflect what ILRI and its partners have learned over the last 10 years since adopting a framework of risk analysis for assessing, managing and communicating about food safety. Continue reading →

Towards professionalizing—not criminalizing—informal sellers of milk and meat in poor countries
A4NH / Agri-Health / Animal Products / Capacity Strengthening / Consumption / Dairying / Food Safety / FSZ / Human Health / ILRI / Markets / Policy / Report / Spotlight

Towards professionalizing—not criminalizing—informal sellers of milk and meat in poor countries

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Researchers from ILRI and partners have developed and piloted an institutional innovation—a training, certification and branding scheme for informal value chain actors—with good potential to improve the safety of animal-source foods sold in informal markets. Past development policy often focused on formal markets, which at best meant neglect of informal markets and often resulted in harassment and penalties for informal agents. Continue reading →

Reducing human exposure to aflatoxins in poor countries: Towards new technologies and practices
A4NH / Agri-Health / Animal Products / Consumption / Dairying / Food Safety / FSZ / Human Health / ILRI / Report / Spotlight / Value Chains

Reducing human exposure to aflatoxins in poor countries: Towards new technologies and practices

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A new paper describes and assesses the strength of a theory of change for how adoption of farm-level technologies and practices for aflatoxin mitigation can contribute to reductions in aflatoxin exposure among consumers in a market context. Continue reading →

Designing practical ways to help the urban poor make choices that improve their nutrition
A4NH / Agri-Health / Animal Products / Consumption / East Africa / Epidemiology / Food Safety / FSZ / Gender / Human Health / ILRI / Kenya / Nutrition / Project / Spotlight / Vulnerability / Women

Designing practical ways to help the urban poor make choices that improve their nutrition

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To improve interventions in food systems of the urban poor, scientists at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) are investigating urban food and nutritional choices in two slums in Nairobi, Kenya. Their aim is to develop interventions that help people make food choices that improve their nutrition while staying within their low household food budgets and access. Continue reading →

Food scares: Agrifood systems everywhere need greater cooperation and investments in safer foods and farming
A4NH / Agri-Health / Books and Chapters / Cameroon / Canada / China / Consumption / Disease Control / Emerging Diseases / Epidemiology / Food Safety / FSZ / Ghana / Human Health / ILRI / Markets / Policy / South Sudan / Spotlight / UK / USA / Zoonotic Diseases

Food scares: Agrifood systems everywhere need greater cooperation and investments in safer foods and farming

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An interesting, if scary, read is chapter 6 of the recently launched flagship report of IFPRI on reducing and managing food scares, co-written by Delia Grace at ILRI and John McDermott, who directs the CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health, led by IFPRI. Continue reading →

Managing the most nutritious, and riskiest, foods in the informal markets of developing countries
A4NH / Africa / Agri-Health / Animal Products / Consumption / Disease Control / Epidemiology / Food Safety / FSZ / Human Health / ILRI / Kenya / Nigeria / Nutrition / Opinion Piece / Spotlight

Managing the most nutritious, and riskiest, foods in the informal markets of developing countries

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A new book compiling 25 contemporary studies on food safety in Africa’s informal markets offers (surprising) lessons for much of the developing world. Continue reading →

First global map of the rising use of antimicrobial drugs in farm animals published in PNAS
A4NH / Agri-Health / Article / Disease Control / Emerging Diseases / Food Safety / FSZ / Geodata / Human Health / ILRI / Intensification / Spotlight

First global map of the rising use of antimicrobial drugs in farm animals published in PNAS

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As reported last week in a scientific paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS), Global trends in antimicrobial use in food animals, worldwide antimicrobial consumption is expected to rise by a staggering 67% between 2010 and 2030. Continue reading →

Despite contamination concerns, Africa must embrace ‘wet markets’ as key to food security
A4NH / Africa / Agri-Health / Animal Products / Books and Chapters / Brucellosis / Disease Control / Food Safety / FSZ / Human Health / ILRI / Markets / Research / Spotlight / Women

Despite contamination concerns, Africa must embrace ‘wet markets’ as key to food security

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A new compilation of 25 studies in Africa finds that informal markets provide essential sources of food and income for millions of poor, with milk and meat that is often safer than supermarkets. Misguided efforts to control the alarming burden of food-related illnesses in low-income countries risk intensifying malnutrition and poverty — while doing little to improve food safety. Blunt crack-downs on informal milk and meat sellers that are a critical source of food and income for millions of people are not the solution. Continue reading →

Life begins at 40: Of sweet spots–and the sweetest spot of all for the International Livestock Research Institute
Directorate / Environment / Ethiopia / Event Report / Food Safety / Food Security / Human Health / ILRI / ILRI40 / Intensification / Nutrition / Pro-Poor Livestock / Spotlight

Life begins at 40: Of sweet spots–and the sweetest spot of all for the International Livestock Research Institute

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The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), which turned 40 years old in 2014, organized a series of events with old and new colleagues, partners and friends, and with them looked back on what we have accomplished in the past 40 years and fleshed out ideas for the next 40. Continue reading →