June the 7th marks World Food Safety Day – a global reminder that access to safe food is fundamental to health and well-being. This year’s theme, “Food safety: science in action,” highlights the essential role that science plays in understanding and preventing foodborne disease. At the Natural Resources Institute (NRI), our research and training programmes generate knowledge and develop skills in food safety to help reduce illness and improve lives around the world.
Professor Delia Randolph has spent over two decades researching food safety in Africa and Asia. Along the way, she’s had many memorable experiences – including great meals, occasionally, some bouts of “travellers’ tummy.” In this article, she shares her insights from her work and why food safety deserves more attention.
When I began working on food safety, very little was known about the scale of the problem. It ranked low on the development agenda. That changed in 2015 with the World Health Organization’s landmark study on the Global Health Burden of Foodborne Disease. Ten years in the making, the study found that foodborne illness had a health burden comparable to that of malaria, HIV/AIDS or tuberculosis – diseases known as the “big three” for their outsized impact on human health. This finding shocked everyone but fortunately led to increased funding for research into the causes and cures for foodborne disease.
A few years later, my co-authors and I developed the first assessment of the economic burden of foodborne disease in the Global South. We found the annual cost was a staggering 115 billion USD. Surprisingly, the bulk of the cost was not from trade losses or the cost of illness. It came from lost time and productivity of those affected.
Today, my research focuses on developing, piloting and evaluating projects to improve food safety in traditional or informal markets which are responsible for most of the burden of foodborne disease. Our research locations include markets in Vietnam, butchers’ shops in Ethiopia, and milk hawkers in Kenya. These efforts are part of a wider set of initiatives at NRI aimed at tackling real-world food safety challenges in low- and middle-income countries.
Our findings are clear: food safety in informal markets can be improved if, but only if, three essentials are met:
- Training and simple technology for people in the food chain from farm to fork.
- Supportive regulation – authorities need to be on board with enabling laws and regulations.
- Incentives in place to motivate behaviour change. Getting the incentives right is the hardest but also the most important part.
I’m proud to see this work influencing global food policy. I collaborate closely with organisations such as the World Health Organization and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. I also contributed to the African Union Food Safety Strategy, which stands out for its strong focus on informal markets – where many of the world’s poorest people buy and sell food.
At NRI, we are proud to be at the forefront of food safety research, education and capacity building. We offer a wide range of programmes focused on food systems, food innovation, public health and food safety science. Our students come from around the world and carry out applied research that directly contributes to reducing foodborne illness and improving food security worldwide. Professor Randolph’s work exemplifies the kind of impactful research that brings this year’s World Food Safety Day theme to life, demonstrating how scientific knowledge can lead to practical solutions that protect health and strengthen food systems.