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Title
FAO sub-regional workshop on Evidence-informed decision making for national food safety policy: use of multi-criteria decision analysis, Kampala - Uganda, 21- 25/04/2015
Full description

The multi-criteria approach was successfully tested within the FAO/EC pilot project in Uganda, on “Evidence-informed decision making for national food safety policy”.

Building on this experience, this sub-regional workshop is planned to share experiences and gain feedback from East African Community countries and Ethiopia, on how food safety decisions can be made more effectively by considering a range of factors. Therefore, this workshop would help to establish a baseline on the current situation in the countries in terms of food safety policy making.

Objectives

  • To discuss making more effective evidence-informed food safety policy and decisions at national level; what are the available data and evidence;
  • Current strategies and approaches to food safety decision making;
  • Sharing the experience (challenges, gaps, success) from the pilot study in Uganda as an example of the application of multi-criteria decision-making analysis in developing capacity in national level;
  • Sharing and discussing the global guidance materials on food safety risk management decisions and policy with the participants and experts;
  • To agree on next steps and how the work is going to proceed in the participant countries upon expressing their interest.

Participants

  • Government representatives from related ministries (health, agriculture, trade, etc.) and institutes;
  • Private sector representatives;
  • Academia and related departments in universities.

Activities in programme

  • Discussion on current policies on food safety, the ways and methods for collecting available data, existing knowledge and experience through presentations and exchange sessions among the participants;
  • Presenting the experience in Uganda, the cases, data collection, challenges, gaps and results;
  • Work with recommended approaches to decision making by considered evidence on important factors;
  • Discussion on the draft FAO guidance material on food safety risk management decision making and integrating comments and inputs;
  • What is the way forward to improve decision making in the participating countries.

Background

Food safety policy makers often face the situations where they should evaluate the impact of their decision on various factors. For example high level of mycotoxins in staple food such as maize and sorghum, not only could damage countries reputation in export market and trade but also chronic exposure to this toxin could lead to growth stunting in children. Brucella contamination of drinking milk would cause immediate and long term illness but also has social and food security related implications; Taenia solium cysticercosis infection in pig and porcine products imposes a significant burden on public health, depresses the pork meat market and affects household food security.

These examples show that decision makers are faced with the challenge of comparing and weighting the impact of multiple food safety issues on various factors. Better informed decisions are based on solid data and clear evidence for a broad range of risks. The first level of prioritization may be based on a single criterion: public health impact. But as the examples above show, at the same time it is important to recognize that food safety issues can impact health in other ways (e.g. malnutrition, obesity, disease associated with malnutrition) as well as social, trade, economic and food security impacts. The appropriate set of risk factors is determined by each country, based on its resources and needs and issues.

This multi-criteria approach was successfully tested within the FAO/EC pilot project in Uganda, on “Evidence-informed decision making for national food safety policy” fostering a balanced approach in the context where a number of criteria needed to be weighed against each other. The project enabled prioritization of national food safety policies and/or decisions by considering a range of factors other than depending on the public health factor alone. Furthermore, this method facilitated the stakeholder engagement in decision making and coordination between the different bodies.

Date From
21/04/2015
Date To
24/04/2015