Status assessment and roadmap for improvement of food safety management systems in Africa: the case of Tanzania
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Date
2015
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Publisher
Ghent University
Abstract
Chapter 1 reviews various literature sources to provide an overview of the characteristics of food
production sectors and the legal framework for food safety in Tanzania and tools used to measure
performance of food safety management systems in the food industry'. It was found that Tanzania’s
economy depends on agriculture: the manufacturing sector being largely agro-based and composed of
micro- and small-scale enterprises. Majority of the food companies target the domestic market, especially,
the dairy sector, while a few sectors like fish and horticulture produce for the export market, The current
food laws and regulations are not yet adequate and well enforced to provide maximum protection to
consumers. Besides, there is no national food safely policy as yet. Several institutions are involved in the
food control without proper coordination and harmonisation of responsibilities. Furthermore, application
of best practices and hazard analysis critical control point principles is not mandatory to food sectors
serving the domestic market, limiting their use. This situation could contribute to food safety problems
(including microbiological and chemical contamination and foodbome diseases) along the local and
export food-value chains. Lastly, the chapter highlights also on the scientific tools, the food safety
management system-diagnostic instrument and microbiological assessment scheme, developed by various
researchers which were further used in this study.
Chapter 2 provides a broad overview of the deficiencies and opportunities for improvement of food
safety management systems of the African food industry-. Several literature sources were consulted to provide insights in food safety status of African food products, deficiencies of current food safety management systems, hurdles due to context characteristics and possible improvement strategies.
Literature on microbiological and chemical safety of various products including fruits and vegetables,
fish, meat, dairy and cereals were analysed to get insights in the current safety status of African food
products. It was found that microbiological and chemical contamination exceeded the legal limits in most
of the products targeted for export and local markets in the reviewed reports. Analysis of the deficiencies
of food safety management systems in the reviewed reports revealed that the majority of core control and
assurance activities were not yet developed, whereas for the ones developed (i.e. export oriented and
large-scale companies), many were at basic level. The hurdles due to context characteristics in the
reviewed reports were observed at government (due to poor legal framework for food safety),
sector/branch organisations (lack of sector organisations and guidelines), market/rctail (inadequate food
safety demands), and company levels (poor workforce quality, high dependency on chain actors,
stakeholders’ conflicting demands) which affect performance of food safely management system in
Africa. Lastly, measures for improvement were proposed at government (strengthen the national legal
framework for food safety, formation of accreditation bodies and food safety education at all levels):sector/branch organisations (formation of sector guidelines and recommended use of traceability systems
and auditable standards), inarkct/retail (private certification and price premiums, and expertise support)
and company levels (technological innovations in hygienic design of equipment and facilities, set-up
assurance activities, and creating supportive administrative structures). These measures were used as
inputs for the development of generic roadmap for improvement of ESMS in Tanzanian food industry. Chapter 3 applied the food safety management system-diagnostic instrument to analyse the set-up and
operation of food safety management system (control and assurance) activities in view of system output
and context riskiness in 22 dairy processing companies in Tanzania. I lierarchical cluster analysis with the
furthest neighbour and squared Euclidean method was used to analyse data; then, Kruskal Wallis Non
Parametric test was applied to determine the significant differences among the clusters. Three clusters
of companies di Hering in levels of set-up and operation of the ESMS and system output, but all operated
in a similar moderate-risk context were identified. Cluster IA and IB had moderate system output,
whereas cluster II had poor-moderate level. The microbiological assessment scheme was applied in one
company to get deeper insight on the actual microbiological safety output of the current systems of dairy'
processing companies. Six indicator micro-organisms for faecal hygiene {Escherichia coli), personal
hygiene {Staphylococcus aureus), pathogens {Listeria monocytogenes. Salmonella spp.) and general
process hygiene {Enterobacteriaceae and total viable counts) were analysed in nine critical sampling
locations along the cultured milk production line. The actual microbiological assessment indicated
contamination of products, food contact surfaces, and hands of the personnel with indicator
microorganisms of faecal hygiene {Escherichia coli), personal hygiene {Staphylococcus aureus), and
pathogens {Listeria monocytogenes) beyond the set limits. A two-stage intervention approach was
proposed to enable commitment and sustainable improvement on the longer term. In the first stage, less
demanding interventions (in terms of expertise/technology, financial and human resources) were
recommended, whereas, high demanding measures (expensive and time consuming) were suggested in the second stage. Similarly, these interventions were used to develop the generic roadmap for improvement of
food safety management systems in Tanzanian food industry. Chapter 4 assesses the food safety management system output in view of the current design and
operation of food safety management system activities and context riskiness of these systems in order to
identify the opportunities for improvement of the risk-based food safety management systems in the
fishery sector. The diagnostic instrument was applied to assess the design and operation of core control
and assurance activities in view of context riskiness and system output in 14 fish processing companies in
Tanzania. Hierarchical cluster analysis with the furthest neighbour and squared Euclidean method
revealed 2 clusters (cluster I and II) differing in system output but with similar level of food safety management systems (average level) and context riskiness (moderate-risk). In overall, cluster I companies
had good system output while cluster II had moderate to good output. However, majority of the fish
companies needed improvement of their FSMS to higher levels and reduce the context riskiness to assure
good system output. A two-phase intervention approach was also proposed to implement the suggested
measures in the fish companies. The less expensive interventions (like sanitation procedures, recruitment
of skilled personnel on permanent basis) that can be implemented in the short- term are recommended for
phase I. More expensive interventions (such as setting-up assurance activities, hygienic design of
equipment and facilities, automation of the production process and sanitation) to be adopted in the longterm
are proposed for phase II. These measures were also used as inputs to develop the generic roadmap
for improvement of food safety management systems in Tanzanian food industry. Chapter 5 describes a combined assessment by the diagnostic instalment and microbiological assessment
scheme to assess microbiological safety output of a risk-based food safely management system of a fish
exporting company. The food safety management system diagnosis indicated average food safety
management system activities which operated in moderate-risk context level but with good system output.
The actual microbiological assessment involved 7 microbiological indicators for pathogens {Vibrio
cholerae. Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella spp.), faecal hygiene {Escherichia coli), personal
hygiene {Staphylococcus aureus), and general process hygiene {Enterobacteriaceae and total viable
counts) analysed in 12 critical sampling locations along the frozen Nile perch fillets processing line.
Enterobacteriaceae and total viable counts exceeded regulatory limits in raw materials and working
tables, whereas Staphylococcus aureus on operator's hands were beyond the general microbiological
guidelines in the fish industry. Among the intervention measures for improvement included hygienic
design, specific produclion/sanitation procedures and independent validation, process automation and
change in personnel recruitment criteria. Likewise, the proposed measures were used to develop roadmap
for improvement in the Tanzanian food industry. Chapter 6 involves a comparative assessment of the design and operation of food safety management
system activities between the domestic oriented companies (dairy sector) and export oriented companies
(fishery sector). The food safety management system-diagnosis data from Chapter 3 (dairy' sector) and
Chapter 4 (fishery' sector) were evaluated to identify possible causes in the differences in the systems
performance between the two sectors. Fish companies had average food safety management system and
medium-good system output, while dairy' companies indicated basic-average food safety management
systems and moderate system output. However, the food safety management systems of both sectors
operated in moderate-risk context. This illustrates that both sectors need specific measures to improve
their food safety management systems and reduce the risk-level of the context to guarantee food safely. The measures to reduce the level of context riskiness included putting high and specific requirements on
operators’ competence level, describing all activities in standard operating procedures, and setting
requirements on product use by major customers. The measures on the design and operation of food
safely management systems involve use of industrial cooling facilities, hygienic design, strict raw
material control, specific sanitation programmes, and analysis of critical control point. Dairy' companies
need to set-up assurance activities including validation, verification, documentation, and record-keeping
system. Enabling regulatory' environment (like national food safety policy, proper enforcement of laws
and regulations) has to be established for the entire food industry (including the domestic market oriented
sectors), to improve the design and operation of current core control and assurance activities and
guarantee food safely. improvement
technological
infrastructure
The measures to reduce the level of context riskiness included putting high and specific requirements on
operators’ competence level, describing all activities in standard operating procedures, and setting
requirements on product use by major customers. The measures on the design and operation of food
safely management systems involve use of industrial cooling facilities, hygienic design, strict raw
material control, specific sanitation programmes, and analysis of critical control point. Dairy' companies
need to set-up assurance activities including validation, verification, documentation, and record-keeping
system. Enabling regulatory' environment (like national food safety policy, proper enforcement of laws
and regulations) has to be established for the entire food industry (including the domestic market oriented
sectors), to improve the design and operation of current core control and assurance activities and
guarantee food safely.
Chapter 7 brings about the general discussion, roadmap for improvement of food safety management
systems in the Tanzanian food industry', conclusions and recommendations for further research. Two
concepts, the food quality relationship model and the improvement cycle were used to design the
roadmap. The food quality relationship describes food quality as a function of food behaviour and human
behaviour, food behaviour is dependent on dynamic product properties (food dynamics) and the applied
technological conditions to stabilise the properties. Human behaviour is dependent of the dynamic
individual decision-making of employees (human dynamics) and the applied administrative conditions to
direct this behaviour (setting procedures and working practices in place). The improvement cycle involves
three steps: (1) mapping the problem area (collecting information about the problem and documentation),
(2) analysing the problem area (identification of causes and effects), and (3) redesigning (development
and implementation of solutions). Based on the food quality relationship model, three levels of increasing
efforts were defined; 1) changes in product and people behaviour, 2) changes in
process conditions and administrative conditions, and 3) changes in the technological
and organisational arrangements. Fish and dairy’ processing companies could use the
generic roadmap to derive their company specific roadmaps towards more effective food safety
management systems. Although this study was exclusively conducted in fish and dairy' sectors, the
proposed generic measures for improvement could be also used by other food production sectors.
However analysis of other sectors like fruits and vegetables, meat and poultry', and hospitality industry
would identify specific deficiencies in their food safety management systems and tailor-made measures
for each sector could be proposed to ensure supply of safe products for the entire nation. Moreover, this
study focused on the techno-managerial approach of food safely management systems, however, the
human factor, the so called ‘food safety climate or culture* could have an important role in the final performance of a food company. Therefore, future studies could take into consideration the food safety
climate factor.
Description
PhD Thesis
Keywords
Roadmap, Food safety management systems, Africa, Tanzania