Feed the Future's EatSafe Analyzes the Impact of Food Safety Policy in Ethiopia and Nigeria Urban Markets

Evidence and Action Towards Safe Nutritious Food (EatSafe), a five-year Feed the Future program led by the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), recently published two policy briefs on the intersection of food safety, policy, and traditional markets where millions of low- and middle-income consumers buy and sell food. The two briefs examine national- and subnational-level authorities in Ethiopia and Nigeria, the two countries where EatSafe currently operates. 

EatSafe found that general food safety rules and regulations were outdated, in some cases, by more than 50 years.

Governance in both countries focuses only on formal food sectors, overlooking traditional market settings (i.e., street food stalls, informal shops). This means that governing bodies neither have the responsibility nor the authority to enforce existing regulations, rules and requirements related to safe food handling, storage and preparation in traditional markets. Further, EatSafe found that general food safety rules and regulations were outdated, in some cases, by 50+ years. Others were found to need revisions to comply with more recent innovations related to food safety best practices.

However, recent attention on food safety has stimulated an enabling policy environment that creates the potential for greater coordination. In Nigeria, the Federal Ministry of Health developed the National Policy on Food Safety in 2014, which resulted in the Nigerian 2019 Food Safety and Quality Bill - an Act currently before the National Assembly. In Ethiopia, food safety emerged as a priority area among government stakeholders during the 2021 United Nations Food Systems Summit.

The Ethiopia and Nigeria policy briefs are available online; they are summarized in an Agrilinks blog. Contact Nika Larian (nlarian@usaid.gov) if you have specific questions.