Food Safety and Zoonoses team activities in Tanzania

Silvia Alonso, DVM MSc PhD Dipl ECVPH

Post-doctoral scientist, Food Safety and Zoonoses team, ILRI

MoreMilkiT project review and planning meeting

Tanga, Tanzania

17-19 March 2014

Food Safety and Zoonoses team activities in Tanzania

FOOD SAFETY AND ZOONOSES TEAM (ILRI)

Research interest in:

• Infectious diseases shared between animals and humans (zoonoses) – incl. factors for (re)emergence

• Infectious diseases related to food safety (foodborne zoonoses)

• Relation between access to safe and quality food and nutritional outcomes

• Interventions along the food chain that help to address the above

…in animal sourced foods

Two main projects in Tanzania

- “Risk based approaches to improving

food safety and market access in smallholder meat, milk and fish value chains in four African countries”

• 2008-2011 (Phase 1)

• 2012-2015 (Phase 2)

- “What is killing

my cow? Re-assessing diseases in smallholder dairying in Tanzania”

• 2013-2014

SAFE FOOD, FAIR FOOD (SFFF)

Project target:

• Food safety (FS) risks

in 2 VCs in 4 countries

Morogoro Region

Mvomero District

Kilosa District

Tanga Region

Handeni District

Lushoto

Sheep & goats – Ethiopia and Senegal Pork – Uganda Dairy - Tanzania

SAFE FOOD, FAIR FOOD (SFFF)

Project objectives (TZ) and methods:

• Assessment of FS risks along the dairy value chain

• Identifying risk mitigating interventions (“best-bets”)

• Pilot “best-bets” (Randomized control trials)

Rapid Integrated Assessment (RIA) for food safety and nutrition (DRAFT REPORT)

Microbiological assessments of milk along the VC (farm to retailer)

Brucella & E. coli O157 (2013) – (2 MSc thesis / 1 draft publication)

Salmonella, Listeria, enterobacteriaceae, Staphylococcus (2014)

Systematic literature review of zoonotic hazards in dairy VC in TZ (DRAFT REPORT)

Identification (based on assessments above)

Prioritization (objective and/or convenient…)

SAFE FOOD, FAIR FOOD (SFFF)

Rapid Integrated

Assessment of FS and nutrition

Microbiological assessments

Systematic literature Review of zoonotic hazards

Prioritization of most promising interventions

BEST-BETS

Pilot best-bets

Public health implications? What factors (e.g. farm management) are related?

What is killing my cow – COW KILLER

Project target:

affecting dairy farmers

• Smallholder dairy farmers

• Pastoralists

(Same areas as SFFF)

What is killing my cow – COW KILLER

Project objectives (What we want to achieve):

• Identify most common pathogens affecting dairy cattle herd

• Identify pathogens rarely looked for

• Identify farm management practices associated with these diseases

• Identify interventions to address animal health issues

• Field test a Disease Diagnosis Support Tool for farmer and extension officers

What is killing my cow – COW KILLER

Project methods (What we have done):

• Sampled SICK dairy cattle – whole blood and serum (n>400 animals)

Laboratory test (e.g.):

Rift Valley fever, Brucella, tick-borne diseases, CBPP

Q fever, parainfluenza virus, respiratory diseases

Geo-spatial distribution of animal health pathogens

• Questionnaire to farmers (n=150) - management practices

Risk factor analysis (when possible)

Identification of farm activities that may link to disease presence at the farm

What is killing my cow – COW KILLER

Blood

Farmer’s questionnaire

Laboratory

testing

Data analysis

Pathogen distribution

Mitigation strategies

ACHIEVEMENTS END 2014

What should we have achieved by end 2014?

• Overview of Food safety in DAIRY VALUE CHAIN in target areas

(what are the problems, where, why, and what to do about them)

• Overview of animal health situation in DAIRY VALUE CHAIN in target areas

(what are the problems, where, why, and what to do about them)

In addition:

• IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF TRAINING AND CERTIFICATION of dairy VC actors IN KENYA (to be conducted throughout 2014)

LESSONS LEARNT from training and certification in dairy value chain IN INDIA (Ram Pratim Deka)

INTEGRATING ACTIVITIES

How can our outcomes contribute to other projects in the DAIRY VC in Tanzania?

• Share of info on food safety risks and animal health in the VC and propose interventions for risk management

• Integrate food safety/milk quality into HUBs systems

• Use HUBs as platform for best-bets testing?

• …..

THANK YOU!

Looking forward to fruitful collaborations…

This work is financed by

CGIAR Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health

Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, Germany

(BMZ/GIZ)

Irish Aid

It is implemented in a partnership with

Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA)

Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) Germany

It contributes to the CGIAR Research Programs on

• Livestock and Fish

• Agriculture for Nutrition and Health

Acknowledgements

The presentation has a Creative Commons licence. You are free to re-use or distribute this work, provided credit is given to ILRI.

better lives through livestock

ilri.org

https://safefoodfairfood.wordpress.com/ SFFF blog: