AVA Conference Perth 2019

For the past 15 years, the CGIAR has been researching food safety in the markets where the poor buy and sell livestock products. Foodborne disease (FBD) inflicts a health burden comparable to that of malaria, HIV-AIDs or tuberculosis and costs developing countries more than $100 billion USD a year. Most of the burden is due to microbial hazards and livestock products sold in the wet markets of developing countries are often implicated. Infectious FBD commonly manifest as diarrhoea, which is strongly associated with stunting. On the other hand, concerns about food safety may change consumer behaviour in ways that reduce their nutritional security. Likewise, there are complex trade-offs between health and nutrition in the many countries where most food fails to meet food safety standards. We summarise recent information on the multiple burdens of FBD; their implications for food security and equity; successful and unsuccessful examples of addressing food safety in informal markets; and, principles for food safety management under conditions of poverty, poor governance, and food and nutrition insecurity.