Periodic Reporting for period 1 - UP-RISE (EU-AU PARTNERSHIP FOR RESILIENT, INCLUSIVE AND SAFE FOOD SYSTEMS FOR EVERYONE)
Période du rapport: 2024-01-01 au 2025-06-30
UP-RISE (EU-AU Partnership for Resilient, Inclusive, and Safe Food Systems for Everyone) aims to tackle pressing food safety challenges through a collaborative Europe-Africa effort. Its main objective is to improve and strengthen the African food safety system by focusing on fermented food value chains of high importance that currently pose food safety risks. The project works across five African countries—each focusing on one widely consumed traditional fermented product (akpan in Benin, maziwa mala in Kenya, kunun-zaki in Nigeria, coco baca in Côte d’Ivoire, and umqombothi in South Africa). The project’s pathway to impact is to develop solutions that make these foods safer while preserving their cultural and nutritional value, thereby protecting consumers and supporting local livelihoods.
To achieve its mission, UP-RISE has set out a comprehensive set of specific objectives that span multiple aspects of food safety. These include understanding current practices and gaps in informal markets, improving regulations and quality standards, developing scientific tools (like risk assessment models and early warning systems) for evidence-based decision-making, exploring innovative interventions, and empowering stakeholders through training and awareness programs. Importantly, the project integrates social sciences and a multi-actor approach from the start. UP-RISE is expected to contribute to healthier populations (through reduced mycotoxin exposure), reduced food losses, and more inclusive, resilient food markets that can better withstand challenges like climate change.
To achieve its mission, UP-RISE has set out a comprehensive set of specific objectives that span multiple aspects of food safety. These include understanding current practices and gaps in informal markets, improving regulations and quality standards, developing scientific tools (like risk assessment models and early warning systems) for evidence-based decision-making, exploring innovative interventions, and empowering stakeholders through training and awareness programs. Importantly, the project integrates social sciences and a multi-actor approach from the start. UP-RISE is expected to contribute to healthier populations (through reduced mycotoxin exposure), reduced food losses, and more inclusive, resilient food markets that can better withstand challenges like climate change.
UP-RISE completed baseline studies in each country to map how the target foods are produced and handled from farm to table. These surveys revealed current practices, pinpointed where contamination risks are most likely to occur, and helped identify critical points for safety improvements in each food chain. The UP-RISE project has selected and supported 10 local business cases (two per country) through a cascade funding scheme. The cascade-funded business cases act as bridges between research and practice, piloting solutions that protect public health and strengthen inclusive food value chains at the grassroots level. Notably, to support this work, 12 jointly supervised PhD students were recruited and started research on improving safety and quality in these traditional value chains.
To address food safety governance, UP-RISE carried out comprehensive situational analyses of food safety regulations in all five countries and found that overly strict rules often push small producers and vendors out of the formal system. In response, it organized a workshop where regulators and food industry representatives from all five countries drafted recommendations for more inclusive policies. For example, instead of penalizing informal vendors, they proposed a gradual certification approach to help these businesses improve. These discussions are now shaping a draft set of mycotoxin control guidelines that could be adopted nationally or at the African Union level.
The project is also deploying science-based tools to manage food safety risks. It adapted a risk assessment toolkit to African conditions so that authorities can estimate health risks from local diets and focus on the worst contaminants. To support this, the team collected extensive data by surveying household diets and sampling crops and foods across the countries to measure contamination levels. These efforts will feed into an early warning system that uses field and climate data to predict mycotoxin outbreaks—an innovative step for food safety in Africa.
UP-RISE is exploring whether traditional fermentation processes themselves can improve safety. Researchers monitored toxin levels during fermentation and isolated beneficial strains of bacteria and yeast from the foods. These microbes are now preserved in a joint African–European biobank (in line with international protocols) for further study.
To address food safety governance, UP-RISE carried out comprehensive situational analyses of food safety regulations in all five countries and found that overly strict rules often push small producers and vendors out of the formal system. In response, it organized a workshop where regulators and food industry representatives from all five countries drafted recommendations for more inclusive policies. For example, instead of penalizing informal vendors, they proposed a gradual certification approach to help these businesses improve. These discussions are now shaping a draft set of mycotoxin control guidelines that could be adopted nationally or at the African Union level.
The project is also deploying science-based tools to manage food safety risks. It adapted a risk assessment toolkit to African conditions so that authorities can estimate health risks from local diets and focus on the worst contaminants. To support this, the team collected extensive data by surveying household diets and sampling crops and foods across the countries to measure contamination levels. These efforts will feed into an early warning system that uses field and climate data to predict mycotoxin outbreaks—an innovative step for food safety in Africa.
UP-RISE is exploring whether traditional fermentation processes themselves can improve safety. Researchers monitored toxin levels during fermentation and isolated beneficial strains of bacteria and yeast from the foods. These microbes are now preserved in a joint African–European biobank (in line with international protocols) for further study.
UP-RISE is developing early warning systems for mycotoxins in Africa, combining real-time field data with climate models to anticipate risks. Alongside this, UP-RISE is introducing risk assessment tools and dietary surveys that quantify mycotoxin exposure and health risks. In summary, UP-RISE is bringing cutting-edge scientific methods (like predictive modeling and quantitative risk assessment) into the African food safety arena, which represents significant progress beyond what was standard practice.
Another way UP-RISE transcends the state-of-the-art is by turning to traditional fermentation techniques as part of the solution. In the long term, this could reduce food waste (fermented foods might spoil less quickly or be safer for longer) and improve nutrition, all by enhancing practices that people already use.
UP-RISE is building sustainable capacity and partnerships that will outlast the project itself. Joint EU–Africa research teams and 12 PhD training are strengthening local expertise in advanced food safety techniques. Training Hubs at partner universities are being established to provide ongoing education for farmers, vendors, and students. Meanwhile, the Accelerator Platform, a multi-stakeholder network, ensures long-term collaboration between government, academia, industry, and communities. By focusing on people, networks, and institutions alongside technical outputs, UP-RISE is setting a new benchmark for how international projects can create lasting improvements in food systems.
Another way UP-RISE transcends the state-of-the-art is by turning to traditional fermentation techniques as part of the solution. In the long term, this could reduce food waste (fermented foods might spoil less quickly or be safer for longer) and improve nutrition, all by enhancing practices that people already use.
UP-RISE is building sustainable capacity and partnerships that will outlast the project itself. Joint EU–Africa research teams and 12 PhD training are strengthening local expertise in advanced food safety techniques. Training Hubs at partner universities are being established to provide ongoing education for farmers, vendors, and students. Meanwhile, the Accelerator Platform, a multi-stakeholder network, ensures long-term collaboration between government, academia, industry, and communities. By focusing on people, networks, and institutions alongside technical outputs, UP-RISE is setting a new benchmark for how international projects can create lasting improvements in food systems.