COMESA moves to deal with effects of Aflatoxin

COMESA is spearheading the development a framework that will help its member States reduce costs associated with multiple testing for Aflatoxin contamination on the maize commodity in the export and import trade.

The Mutual Recognition Framework will support a network of specialised laboratories in the Member States with competence in Aflatoxin analysis and certification. The initiative will involve conduct training on sampling and testing for Aflatoxin grain traders associations, millers and processors.

The targeted laboratories include four in Kenya, two in Malawi and one each in Rwanda Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Currently, no mutual recognition of technical standards and equivalence of food safety systems exist of staple foods crossing borders and this continues to be an impediment to intra-COMESA trade.

A report presented to a two day workshop of regional food commodity experts that ended Tuesday, in Dar Es Salaam indicates that staple foods crossing borders in COMESA States are subjected to conformity assessment procedures and protocols in both the exporting and the importing countries which increases the cost of trading and in some cases hinders it.

“Without mutual recognition of technical standards and equivalence of food control systems, underpinned by mutually greed standard operating procedures (SOPs) for traders and inspectors, multiple inspections and testing in the exporting and importing countries persist and continue to cause an unpredictable regulatory environment that comes at a high cost to traders,” says the report.

The report cited Kenya, a maize deficit country that supplements its stocks through imports from Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi and Zambia among others as a case in point. In 2014/2015, the Kenya maize deficit gap was reportedly 900,000 metric tonnes. All maize imported into Kenya, including from East African Community (EAC) partner states, is subjected to conformity assessment checks against the East Africa Standard (EAS 2:2013) related to broken and discoloured grains, moisture content and Aflatoxin limits.”  

In spite of harmonising maize standards and adopting the regional standard, the EAC member States have not achieved full harmonisation as consignments from the partner states still have to undergo Aflatoxin testing and quality inspections at ports of entry. 

The report further says “without mutual recognition of technical standards and equivalence of food control systems, underpinned by mutually agreed standard operating procedures (SOPs) for traders and inspectors, multiple inspections and testing in the exporting and importing countries will persist and continue to cause an unpredictable regulatory environment that comes at a high cost to traders.” 

The envisaged mutual recognition will achieve one time testing in the exporting country and remove the need for additional testing in the importing country.

The COMESA Coordinator for Sanitary and Phytosanitary Programme Ms. Martha Byanyima said through proficiency testing and the mutual recognition framework, COMESA will enable the 11 laboratories from the participating countries participating in the scheme to recognize each other’s analytical results and certificates of analysis.  

“This will simplify the food safety regulatory environment for staple food trade in the region and reduce the cost of trading food staples (particularly maize and maize products), by eliminating multiple testing and inspection activities carried out in the exporting and importing countries,” she said.

The two days Sampling and Testing Aflatoxin Workshop was sponsored by the United States Department of Agriculture – Foreign Agriculture Service (USDA-FAS) in consultation with COMESA the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (IITA) and the Research Scientists working on Aflatoxin. Participants at the meeting included the national standards agencies, scientists, grain millers and grain associations from Kenya, Malawi, Egypt, Rwanda, Tanzania, Ghana and Zambia.

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Aflatoxin