Africa to get food safety plan

2005-10-02 20:45

Harare - Africa is to adopt its first food safety plan this week at a 47-nation conference opening on Monday in the Zimbabwean capital to find ways of ensuring healthy meals on the world's poorest continent.

The four-day conference organised by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) "is expected to endorse the first-ever Food Safety Action Plan for Africa", a statement from the agencies said.

Food and water-borne diseases are estimated to cause about 700 000 deaths in Africa every year - one third of global deaths from food illnesses, according to the FAO and the WHO.

Deaths from food illnesses in Africa are close to rivalling those from malaria, a major killer that accounts for more than one million deaths worldwide, most of these in Africa, the two agencies said.

Poor safety controls also cause huge economic losses for the continent.

The failure to meet new food standards issued by the European Union in 2001 resulted in a 64% drop in exports from Africa of cereals, dried fruits and nuts, representing a loss of $670m, the FAO and WHO said.

The conference is to promote cooperation between African countries to ensure that food quality is being monitored.

"The conference is about making sure that food is wholesome and disease-free and the process of making sure that it's not contaminated," added David Nhari, chief analyst at Zimbabwe's food advisory board.

The conference on food safety comes as the World Food Programme (WFP) estimates that four million Zimbabweans are in need of food aid in the country.

- AFP