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94 PIPPA CHENEVIX TRENCH, CLARE NARROD, DEVESH ROY, AND MARITES TIONGCO This chapter describes food safety risks along the value chain, identifies driv-


ers of change, presents the risks posed to the poor by both food safety challenges and recommends possible ways to address these risks. In particular, the chapter underscores the use of risk-based analysis to craft effective food safety policies that benefit both poor consumers and poor producers.¹


Health Risks along the Value Chain Health risks along agrifood value chains fall into three broad categories: microbio- logical hazards, physical and chemical contaminants, and occupational hazards. While no less significant, the last category is not addressed in this chapter, which focuses on a food-safety perspective.²


Microbiological hazards (includes food-borne pathogens and zoonoses) The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that in 2004 unsafe water, lack of hygiene, and insufficient sanitation were responsible for 1.9 million deaths and 64.2 million disability-adjusted life years (2009). Emerging zoonotic diseases are likewise of major concern, particularly in developing countries. Such diseases and their causes are often not recognized because of the lack of diagnostic capacity along the value chain and poor infrastructure. The World Bank (2010) estimates the costs of zoonotic diseases (including human and animal health service costs, compensation for lost animals, and production and revenue losses to the livestock sector) between 2000 and 2010 to be in excess of US$20 billion (or more than $200 billion with associated indirect costs.


Physical and chemical contaminants Plant toxins are common in important food crops—such as cyanide in cassava or tannin, vicine, and convicine in fava beans—and may cause specific diseases such as favism, lathyrism, and konzo when consumed in large quantities over a prolonged period of time. In smaller doses, these toxins can reduce micronutrient intake and diminish immunity and growth in infants and children. Mycotoxins, including aflatoxins and fuminosins, are toxic fungal byproducts thought to affect 25 percent of the world’s food crops. Aflatoxin has been listed as a Class A carcinogen that


1. This chapter uses terminology, such as health risks, risk analysis, and risk assessment, in a broad literary sense intended for a lay reader rather than the tightly specified definitions as prescribed by the Codex Alimentarius Commission. 2. From an occupational perspective, agriculture is one of the most hazardous sectors worldwide, with agricultural workers exposed to extreme weather conditions, zoonoses, pesticide residues, and agrochemical pollutants, among other risks.


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