The “Institutionalisation of food safety in Bangladesh for safer food” project, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and implemented between 2013 and December 2019, had as main objective to support the operationalisation of the newly established Bangladesh Food Safety Authority (BFSA). Support provided helped BFSA to define its role, objectives and activities, and to strengthen its capacities. The project also contributed to enhance institutional coordination and define mechanisms for establishing standards and regulations. Important advances were made in raising public awareness on the importance of food safety. The project also helped create a strong drive to adopt an integrated ‘farm-to-fork’ approach in the poultry and mango sectors. The introduction of a BSc degree course in food safety management is an important achievement for medium and long-term capacity development. Awareness was raised on the need for a risk-based approach with regard to allocating public resources for food control and inspection. More efforts should be made to integrate the principles of risk analysis applicable to food safety systems and to develop data collection and processing skills, risk ranking and risk assessment tools.
The goal of this report is to identify best food safety practices that can inform policy makers in Bangladesh and other developing countries by examining and synthesizing experiences in food safety systems and regulation as well as producer and consumer behavior in low, middle, and high income countries. We begin by presenting the general objectives and principles of food safety regulation in countries with mature food safety systems. Then we review government food safety regulatory systems in Denmark and the U.S. to illustrate different approaches to organizing the implementation of food safety regulation. The food safety systems of both of these countries were updated within the past 20 years (Denmark in 1997 and the U.S. in 2011), and as a result the two systems incorporate modern best practices in food safety. The recent changes to U.S. food safety law are described in depth, as an example of a country updating a food safety system that was developed over 80 years ago based on modern principles. We conclude by summarizing the best practices and consider their potential to improve food safety in an emerging economy such as Bangladesh.
Policies, formal or informal, can be determinants of the effectiveness of any organization, no matter how big or small. Formal policies can take the form of primary laws or secondary regulations, while informal policies may only apply on the honor of individuals, businesses, or societies. Throughout history, food safety policies have evolved from isolated experiences of trial and error to standardized, scientific method-driven approaches. Still, the burden of foodborne disease remains a global concern, and governments often maintain the responsibility of curbing the deleterious effects. The policy decisions made to i) train food safety professionals, ii) educate producers and consumers on food-safe handling practices, and iii) conduct outreach activities can mean the difference between sickness and health in constituencies. In Bangladesh, these three policy priorities are led by the Bangladesh Food Safety Authority (BFSA). As a human-driven system, improving food safety requires behavior change. Policymakers can implement mechanisms for behavior change through their understanding of the national culture. Leaders should not use this information to exploit or manipulate but rather to embrace cultural nuance and share resonate messaging. Religion, specifically the Islamic faith, is a dominant cultural element in Bangladesh. Recognizing the connection between Muslim food laws-called Halal food laws and derived from Islamic text-and food safety is essential to writing effective food safety policies. An estimated 150 million Muslims live in Bangladesh and presumably abide by Halal food laws. Though many of the Halal principles of good hygiene and wholesomeness align with safe food production and consumption practices, high rates of foodborne disease persist. This research aims to i) describe the global history of governance around food safety, ii) outline existing international approaches to food safety, iii) discuss current theories of behavior change, iv) assess the capacity of the government of Bangladesh to improve food safety practices and outcomes, and v) evaluate the results and policy applications of the Food Safety Culture Assessment. The hypothesis of the Food Safety Culture Assessment is that there are observable patterns in food safety-related values, opinions, and perceptions, particularly as it relates to the cultural element of religion. The most apparent patterns were the significance respondents placed on faith, handwashing, partiality to taste over other factors of food selection, and the value of women and healthcare providers in food safety information dissemination. These resources were developed to inform policy decisions and build capacity at the Bangladesh Food Safety Authority (BFSA). As the BFSA establishes itself to be the proper authority on food safety issues, it will be well-served to align national culture considerations like the Islamic faith with data-driven, scientific findings when working to improve food safety policy.
Project evaluation WEP development project food policy food production Bangladesh - describes obstacles to continued government fertilizer subsidies, and impact of final report on aid institutions' attitude to development aid lending policies.
The Resources, Partnerships, Impact – 2020 report elucidates who FAO is, what it has done, and how it has worked in collaboration with multiple stakeholders in 2019. Also, it highlights the way FAO has been adapting to changes in the development aid landscape, specifically by leveraging different kinds of funds and seeking innovative partnerships, in order to accelerate the attainment of the SDGs. The report takes a closer look at the challenges and strategies that guided FAO’s activities at the regional and global levels in 2019, while showcasing selected interventions that delivered critical results on the ground.
Micronutrients, often referred to as vitamins and minerals are vital to healthy development, disease prevention, and wellbeing. Although only required in small amounts, micronutrients are not produced in the body and must be derived from the diet. Commonly cited micronutrients include Iron, Vitamins A, B, D, Iodine, and Zinc. Malnutrition in micronutrients tends to trap populations in a vicious cycle of poverty, causing adults to be less productive and preventing children from reaching their full potential, and exacerbating household poverty in general. Addressing the problem of micronutrient malnutrition, therefore, provides substantial benefits to the cause of development (Ara et al. 2019). The fortification of staple food items including rice to deliver vital micronutrients offers a unique opportunity to target the vulnerable populace – mostly women, young children and female adolescents – at a low cost, and importantly, without forcing a change in dietary habits.2 Although considerable investments are currently being made to improve micronutrient nutrition outcomes around the world, such efforts generally take time to provide results.
This framework fosters the replication and scaling up of home-grown school feeding models and the mapping of opportunities for linking such programmes with relevant agricultural development and rural transformation investments.
An effective state is essential to achieving socio-economic and sustainable development. With the advent of globalization, there are growing pressures on governments and organizations around the world to be more responsive to the demands of internal and external stakeholders for good governance, accountability and transparency, greater development effectiveness, and delivery of tangible results. Governments, parliaments, citizens, the private sector, NGOs, civil society, international organizations and donors are among the stakeholders interested in better performance. As demands for greater accountability and real results have increased, there is an attendant need for enhanced results-based monitoring and evaluation of policies, programs, and projects. This Handbook provides a comprehensive ten-step model that will help guide development practitioners through the process of designing and building a results-based monitoring and evaluation system. These steps begin with a OC Readiness AssessmentOCO and take the practitioner through the design, management, and importantly, the sustainability of such systems. The Handbook describes each step in detail, the tasks needed to complete each one, and the tools available to help along the way."
