Food policy analyses and prioritisation of food systems to achieve safer food for South Africa

Food safety has become an important international public health and economic issue since the first and only publication of the global estimates on burden of food borne diseases by the World Food Organisation in 2015 and by the World Bank in 2018. Food safety refers to all microbial and chemical hazards, whether chronic or acute, that may contaminate and make food injurious to the consumer. The consumption of unsafe food has had a detrimental effect on public health and economic development due to productivity loss, chronic diseases and death as a results of consumption of unsafe food. Systematic review and stakeholder interviews methods were used to identify challenges hindering the provision of safe food and potential no-regret solutions. The challenges that constrain provision of safe food in South Africa’s food systems and potential solutions were identified through systematic literature review and meta-analysis. Potential solutions were then ranked through stakeholder interviews. Best-Worst scaling and hierarchical clustering were used to rank and prioritise actions as no- regret actions to transform food systems. There were 12 actions prioritised as no-regret solutions from various thematic focus. The prioritised no-regret actions included research and technology actions such as the collaboration of researchers in different sectors of the food system to develop strategies to deal with the complexity of food systems and identify priorities for interventions, adopt technological innovations throughout the value chain to improve food safety, strengthen laboratory diagnostic services, and conducting more research studies on the use of easy to understand food safety labels to improve awareness. The no-regret options prioritised are feasible, and provide basis for policy interventions to improve food safety and achieve developmental goals. This study recommended harmonising the legislative framework to improve stakeholder collaboration and accelerate the much needed transformation of the food systems.