In 2017 South Africa experienced the world’s worst listeriosis outbreak, which resulted in 180 deaths. Francois Baird, founder of FairPlay, cites it as an example of why food safety is so critical and why it affects everyone in the country.
Access to safe and affordable food is critical to our survival, after all. Food For Mzansi, in partnership with FairPlay, recently hosted a webinar to discuss the risks and challenges around food safety in Mzansi.
“Food safety is not only an issue for consumers. It’s not only an issue for the academics and health community. Food safety is also very important from a trade perspective.
“We’ve already seen listeriosis resulting in deaths in South Africa, so it’s important for us to get [the management of food safety] right,” Baird says.
For Matlou Setati, executive for the Food Safety Initiative at the Consumer Goods Council of South Africa, the issue of food safety is one that consumers need to be actively involved in. “From farm to fork, we are all responsible, including consumers,” she says.
Setati acknowledges that consumers do not have any way of testing the safety of their food at the till, but they can take some steps to make sure the food they consume is safe. “Labels are a critical aspect [for consumers] in how we manage our food products. Knowing how to read your labels [and checking] the date is quite imperative for example, best-before dates and expiry dates.”
She emphasises that consumers can take comfort in how highly regulated food safety is in the country.
“Most of the role players in the food industry are doing their utmost best to ensure that food safety levels are retained.”
Professor Kris Willems, former executive dean of engineering technology at KU Leuven University in Belgium, says the key to food safety is good hygiene practices. “Whether at a multi-national corporate or at the rural community of production, it does not make sense to bring in a [food safety system] if you do not have [good hygiene] prerequisites in place.”
Producers and processors can watch the full webinar here or listen to this week’s episode of the Farmer’s Inside Track podcast.
Other podcast highlights:
Listeners of Food For Mzansi’s popular podcast can look forward to another great line-up of handy information:
- Zooming in on labour: Certified business advisor and farmer Willem van Jaarsveld chats to us about the factors you need to consider when planning the labour requirements of your business.
- Agri 101: In this week’s Agri101 segment, we chat to Zukiswa Gqirana, whose cold-pressed juices are gracing the aisles of a large retailer.
- Challenges in the sector: Dr Mpho Maja, director of animal health at the department of agriculture, land reform and rural development in North West, unpacks some of the biggest challenges in the sector over the last two years.
- Soil health: Bio specialist Mark Hutton from Andermatt Madumbi gives us some valuable insight into why farmers should take care of their crops from the root up.
- Book of the week: Our book of the week is Start Your Own Business: The Only Start-Up Book You’ll Ever Need by Rieva Lesonsky.
- Farmer’s tip of the week: Our farmer’s tip this week comes from Ipeleng Kwadi, a livestock farmer from North West.
How to listen to Farmer’s Inside Track
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Instant play: Tap the “play” button below to listen to the podcast right here.
ALSO READ: How food safety can play to the agripreneur’s advantage
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