The justification for why we exist…

Food safety and nutrition are key determinants of health and human development. Food regulatory decisions have far-reaching implications on the health, agriculture and trade agendas for any given country, both domestically and at the international level.

Africa’s contribution to the global food and agrifood supply is increasingly important, considering the important water and land resources afforded by the continent. African countries are demonstrating increasing commitment to modernizing and further enhancing their agricultural output and their food and agrifood production, with opportunities of development that can have important positive impacts on the economies of African countries and the continent.

Producing safe and nutritious food for Africa’s population and increasing intra-regional trade of food and agrifood products within the African continent were also identified as some of the objectives pursued by the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) launched in 2021.

In recent years, African leaders have prioritized actions in relation to food safety and SPS matters in an effort to address some of the public health and economic challenges. Several discussions have taken place on the possibility of establishing a unified food safety agency for the continent, sharing a common SPS policy framework and with the dual objectives of harmonizing SPS measures and supporting a common approach to food safety capacity building across the African continent (AUC, 2019; WTO, 2019).

Many changes are being witnessed in the African food safety regulatory context, with the development of new food competent authorities and agencies entrusted with the overall food safety regulatory mandate, such as the creation of the Food Safety and Quality Authority of the Gambia, the National Food Safety Agency of the Arab Republic of Egypt (NFSA) and similar agencies established in Nigeria, Ghana, and Mauritania.

These changes, along with efforts of coordination and food regulatory convergence led by African Regional Economic Communities (RECs), such as ECOWAS and EAC, would benefit from the creation of a favorable collaborative environment between African food regulators, through the development of an African Food Regulatory Authorities Forum (AFRAF), under the leadership of the African Union Commission, its specialized departments and in partnership with the RECs.

This direction is further supported by the outputs of 36th Ordinary Session of the African Union Assembly of Heads of State and Government, held on 18-19 February 2023 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia identifying the priority of the year as being “Accelerating the Implementation of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area” and highlighting the importance of the food and agrifood sector in the intra-continental trade.

The potential for growth for this segment of intra-continental trade is estimated to be exponential and needs to be further driven by enhanced alignment of African food regulatory frameworks, which requires the development of a relevant forum for dialogue and collaboration between African Food Regulators.