Hi Boni,

Thank you very much. I know how sensitive some of these ‘revelations’ can be. We will contact Barbara and learn from their experiences.

Apologies Joerg – as yet we do not know. We are screening fresh milk samples for:
1) Total Bacterial Count (TBC), 2) Faecal coliforms count, 3) Antibiotic resistant E. coli, 4) Salmonella spp., 5) Brucella spp., 6) Toxigenic E.coli, 7) Entertoxin producing Staph aureus, 8) bTB, 9) Campylobacter, 10) (Listeria may be added). We also hope to test for aflatoxins.
Happy to hear if you have suggestions –
Theo
Theo Knight-Jones

Dear Nils,
To address your questions one at a time:
-How was milk identified as the next priority food after fish, both in regard to nutrition and food safety?
Food safety is very much a blank canvas in Western Zambia. Data on source attribution for foodborne disease is unavailable, as is simple data on disease burden. Opinions gathered during discussions and workshops with local experts working in this area and with community members identified fish and milk as high risk foods eaten in large quantities with poor preservation methods and hygiene. A field study of fish value chains highlighted dried fish as of particular concern. We have now performed microbiological sampling of fish from markets and fresh milk (sour milk to be done), to confirm this and guide future investigations (awaiting lab results). We are at an early stage of our work. WorldFish and bioversity have done more work on nutrition, particularly the use of small dried fish to improve nutrition in the first 1000 days of life – please contact Mwansa for more information.
-What approach does AAS follow to assess food safety from production to consumption?
The food safety work is funded by A4NH, within an AAS programme – we will sample foods along the supply chain from production certainly until point of sale, ideally consumption – in fact in our pilot study of fresh milk we have followed milk from 1) each cow, 2) pooled before leaving to local coop, 3) arrival at coop and 4) regularly during shelf life after sale -sampling the same batch of milk as it moves along the value chain. We also collect info on storage and hygiene. Fish will follow a similar approach.
-Sour milk – sour milk was identified as something that should be evaluated as it is consumed in large quantities and we know relatively little about its safety (partly due to our own ignorance-our first step will be to review safety of sour milk – if you have useful contacts or references please let us know). Also sour milk is linked to the fresh milk value chain in that unsold fresh milk is then sold as sour milk.
Regarding insecticide impregnated nets at fish markets – thanks for the advice – after efficacy studies we intend to pilot this intervention to identify problems like this that were not anticipated.
Many thanks
Theo
Theo Knight-Jones

Dear Isabelle,
I work with Mwansa here in Zambia. In Western Zambia where the project is based there is lots of grass, lots of cattle yet dairy value chains are largely informal and productivity is low. Formal outlets in Western province, like supermarkets, sell milk at higher prices, yet this milk is either from different regions of Zambia or imported. There are a series of catch 22’s that create barriers to local producers accessing these better prices and improving production and quality, e.g. investments in facilities are needed to improve quality to access better prices, production needs to increase and become more reliable to justify these investments, but there is no current access to sizeable markets to justify this investment, besides, increased production requires better breeds, including use of artificial insemination, which requires better nutrition and health care which 99% of farmers are currently unable to provide. Although complex, I am sure this is a familiar story and would be keen to hear about other experiences that we could learn from. Looking at food safety and quality is one aspect, but whilst a holistic approach is ultimately required a sensible option may be to try to improve one aspect, such as basic cattle nutrition or health, which would potentiate the next steps, e.g. improved breeds, AI and milk yields, which could allow more investment in milk quality and supply chain infrastructure. A previous donor project provided fresh milk bulk tanks to coops for cool storage and bulking, but this appears to have been a case of trying to run before you can walk, and are very much unused “white” elephants [a milk pun].
Yours
Theo

Hi Saskia, Thanks a lot for this valuable information. It will definitely be nice to establish links with ZimCLIFS.
Concerning the links with the various stakeholders, we are in the process of forming a Food Safety Advisory Committee at national level, which will comprise officers from relevant ministries like the Ministry of Health, Min. of Agriculture, the public health section of the Min. of local Government and Housing. University of Zambia will also be represented.
At provincial level we are planning to set up an innovation platform for each of the two products, which will allow for engagement even with different players along the value chain