Experts and partners involved in food safety issues in West Africa met from 4 to 6 October 2023 in Abidjan to validate the Harmonised Guide to Health Inspection and Risk-Based Decision Making, a reference framework document for making decisions under the inspection programme to encourage compliance or take coercive measures.
The forty or so participants from 14 of the 17 countries in the ECOWAS-CILSS region first examined the content of the draft guide drawn up by the technical working groups and pre-validated by the group of experts, going through each section and the proposed texts, before proceeding to validate it. This final stage marked the end of the process of developing this important document, which began in May 2023 in Cotonou with the training workshop for experts and the setting up of a regional technical working group, which led to the drafting of the guide. In July 2023, a regional meeting to pre-validate the draft guide was held in Dakar, Senegal, to make progress on its preparation.
The development of this guide is part of the establishment of a regional mechanism for the convergence of food safety regulatory measures between the countries of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Sahel, as set out in the ECOWAS harmonised regional regulation C/REG.21/11/10. This is why Alain Sy Traoré, Director of Agriculture and Rural Development at the ECOWAS Commission, welcomed the existence of this document: "Our sub-region is the only one in Africa to have such a mechanism for coordination, cooperation, synergy of actions and mutual responsibility. You have succeeded in drawing up this guide, but the challenge remains to implement it at regional level in the countries concerned, so as to truly reach all the stakeholders involved in the value chain from production to consumption of food products" at the opening ceremony of this regional meeting.
The food consumed in West Africa is produced, managed and delivered, in most cases, under rather difficult conditions, often without respect for sanitary measures. To guarantee food safety, food inspection is a key element of the food production, processing and distribution system. Harmonisation of food safety inspection protocols is essential, which is why the "Harmonised Guide to Food Safety Inspection and Risk-based Decision Making" adopted by ECOWAS will help to improve food safety and ensure the health of the population.
The participants drew up a roadmap with specific actions including validation of the Guide by the ECOWAS bodies (Council of Ministers) and pre-testing of the Guide in the countries in order to make the necessary adjustments and publish it.
