Piloting the use of TPA Programmes to improve food safety outcomes for public health and trade in Africa

Fecha de inicio 
15/02/2019
Fecha de finalización 
15/09/2019

Piloting the use of TPA Programmes to improve food safety outcomes for public health and trade in Africa


Competent authorities are increasingly considering and using voluntary third-party assurance (TPA) programmes to better inform their risk profiling of food businesses, and more effectively target resources within their national food control systems. Using voluntary TPA programmes can help competent authorities and food business operators to improve food safety outcomes, while allowing each to operate within their defined roles and responsibilities.

The purpose of the PPG is to develop a regional project proposal to pilot and assess how voluntary TPA programmes may be used in practice in selected African countries to improve food safety outcomes, with a focus on specific commodities, products and supply chains. The supply chains will include the fisheries sector in Mali, the horticulture sector in Senegal and the aquaculture value chain in Uganda.

Work under the PPG will be based on close collaboration between relevant government agencies and the private sector. Other interested stakeholders will be involved to create synergies, learn from existing experiences and ensure linkages to work by the Codex Committee on Food Import Export Inspection and Certification Systems (CCFICS) to develop principles and guidelines for the assessment and use of voluntary third-party assurance programmes. The work will also be closely linked to a related regional PPG, implemented by IICA in Central America (STDF/PPG/682), to facilitate synergies, learning and cooperation across the two regions.

It is expected that the two regional projects to result from the PPGs in Africa and Central America would follow a broadly similar approach, and test and assess some common elements, so that the experiences and outcomes may be compared. The PPGs, and resulting regional projects, will improve understanding about how TPA programmes may be used to boost compliance and build confidence in national food control systems, for instance, to improve risk-profiling of food businesses, better target food inspections and prioritize resources, build food safety capacity of small-scale producers and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). They will also improve understanding about the challenges and risks faced, as well as the opportunities to strengthen public-private collaboration to improve food safety outcomes for domestic public health and trade.

Documentos 
PDF PDF
Reference Number 
STDF/PPG/665
Estado 
En curso
Valor del Proyecto (US$) 
52,000
Contribución STDF (US $)  
52,000
Beneficiarios 
Malí
Senegal
Uganda
Entidades de ejecución 
Jean Kamanzi