[5-1015-A] Food Safety (2)

[5-1015-A-05] Responsiveness to Food Safety Emergencies in Eswatini following the Outbreak of listeriosis in South Africa

*Tendekayi Henry Gadaga¹, Anthony N Mutukumira² (1. University of Eswatini(Swaziland), 2. Massey University(New Zealand))

Keywords:food safety, listeriosis, Eswatini, food control, pathogens

The FAO defines food safety as the absence, or safe, acceptable levels of hazards in food that may harm the health of consumers. Microbiological hazards pose a disproportionate threat to human health in all countries, more so in developing countries due to inadequate resources and fragmented food control systems. The food control system in Eswatini is administered by different departments. The Ministry of Health is responsible for the administration of the Public Helath Act; Ministry of Agriculture, the Dairy act, and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Commerce, standards, including food standards. A 2013 Food Safety Bill that aims at coordinating food control activities under a single food control authority has yet to be finalised. The outbreak of listeriosis in South Africa in 2017 revealed the importance of an effective food control system in Eswatini. Under the current food control system, the country runs the risk food poisoning outbreaks that may be difficult to control. Like other countries in southern Africa, Eswatini depends on South africa for substabtial amounts of its food requirements, including cereals, fruits, vegetables, and meat products. Brands of ready-to-eat cold meat products that were implicated in the listeriosis outbreak in South Africa are also marketed in Eswatini. As a strategy to prevent the spread of the outbreak in Eswatini, the Ministry of Health embarked on a consumer awareness campaign and initiated a recall of affected products. The country had no capacity to test the products to verify presence of Listeria monocytogenes, thereby highlighting the need to strengthen the food control system. This paper reviews the state of the food control system in Eswatini and assesses the readiness of the country to respond to food safety emergencies using the listeriosis outbreak in South Africa as a case study.