New project to improve the safety of smoked fish in the Republic of Mali

On 7 and 8 July 2021, the National Institute of Public Health of the Republic of Mali launched a new food safety project that will promote the use of Codex Alimentarius standards and codes of practice in the smoked fish sector, in particular, and its potential spillover effects to other value chains, such as grilled/smoked meat and oilseeds will be documented. The three-year project (Promotion of Codex standards and codes of practice in the smoked fish sector and consequences on food safety in other sectors in Mali) will be implemented by FAO starting in 2021.

The project - funded by the Standards and Trade Development Facility (STDF), a global partnership whose secretariat is hosted by the World Trade Organization - was initiated following the results of an earlier project. In 2014-2018, FAO with technical support from the World Health Organization and Centre Pasteur of Cameroon conducted a total diet study to identify the risks associated with the presence of chemical substances in food consumed in Benin, Cameroon, Mali and Nigeria. It was then that high exposure levels to pesticide residues (chlorpyrifos) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons were identified due to their concentration in smoked fish, a widely consumed food commodity.

To address this, a multi-faceted project has been devised. Blaise Ouattara, the  lead technical officer explained that the project aims to make a difference by:

• facilitating a national consultation of all stakeholders for the selection of adequate risk management options
• Improving smoking practices through adequate smoking technologies
• building the analytical capacity as a tool for risk management

In line with COVID-19 safety precautions, participants joined the July launch event either physically in Bamako or on Zoom.

Read more about the Mali project on the STDF site 

Find out more about the Total Diet Study