Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN)

Happy #WorldFoodSafetyDay How do we secure the future of food? By acknowledging that sustainability and safety are linked.  Climate change is expected to increase temperatures and extreme weather events, which increases the risks for food contamination. As food systems become interconnected, ensuring food is safe at every stage from production to consumption is essential.  To solve this, we need:   1️⃣ Data: Collecting food safety data where it is currently lacking is necessary to make informed decisions.   2️⃣ Policy: Governments need adaptable, evidence-based policies suited to local contexts.  Food safety involves developing production methods that ensure safety while reducing water, energy, and resource use. Annette Mongina Nyangaresi Mduduzi Mbuya Penjani Mkambula Grace Thuo Theodore Sam FAO World Health Organization

🎯 𝗡𝗘𝗪 𝗕𝗟𝗢𝗚 𝗔𝗟𝗘𝗥𝗧 𝗙𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝗯𝘀𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲; it connects our cultures, feeds our families, and nourishes our bodies. Yet, if it isn’t safe, it simply cannot fulfil its purpose of sustaining our health. Ahead of 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱 𝗙𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗦𝗮𝗳𝗲𝘁𝘆 𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝗼𝗻 𝗝𝘂𝗻𝗲 𝟳, we are sharing a timely blog by Genet Gebremedhin, Head of Policy and Advocacy, Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition - Ethiopia, exploring the invisible hazards in our food systems and how we can transition from burden to action.  🔴 The global reality is sobering. Newly updated 2026 World Health Organization (WHO) data reveals that the global burden of unsafe food is substantially higher than previously estimated, causing approximately 𝟴𝟲𝟲 𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝟭.𝟱𝟮 𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗱𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗵𝘀 every single year. That means 𝘂𝗻𝘀𝗮𝗳𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗮𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁𝘀 𝟭 𝗶𝗻 𝟵 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗴𝗹𝗼𝗯𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗻𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆, leading to illnesses that are entirely preventable. Food safety hazards can strike at any stage, from harvesting and processing to packaging, transport, and serving. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝘀:   🦠 Biological: Contamination from harmful bacteria, viruses, and parasites.   🧪 Chemical: Exposure to toxic cleaning agents, heavy pesticides, or environmental toxins.   🧱 Physical: Hazardous fragments of glass, metal, or plastic entering the supply chain.  So why does having safe food everywhere matter, and why is it a shared responsibility across the food system? 🔗 Dive in: https://lnkd.in/efAHTEkb Mark Gachagua Magdalawit Ghirma Annette Mongina Nyangaresi Mduduzi Mbuya Wubet Girma K #FoodSafety #HealthierDiets4All

This World Environment Day, we're reaffirming our commitment to building a sustainable food system that protects nutrition for generations to come. Our work intersects with critical environmental dimensions:  📉 Climate change & biodiversity loss  💧 Water scarcity & pollution  🌱 Soil degradation & plastic waste Through our 2022–2027 Strategy, we are actively 𝗘𝗻𝗴𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗡𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲. Our goal? To accelerate nutrition outcomes responsibly. 𝗛𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵𝘆 𝗱𝗶𝗲𝘁𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗿𝗲 𝗮 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵𝘆 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗲𝘁. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘄.  #FoodSystemsTransformation #HealthierDiets4All #SustainableDiets

Who is most at risk? While food safety affects everyone, the burden is not shared equally.  Children, pregnant women, older individuals, and immunocompromised people are at an increased risk for foodborne disease. The data shows that while children under 5 make up only 9% of the population, they account for 30% of foodborne deaths.  Furthermore, vulnerable populations often lack access to resources like clean water and electricity to ensure their food stays safe. Policies must support the resilience of these populations to ensure food safety during shocks and stressors.  Annette Mongina Nyangaresi Mduduzi Mbuya Miriam Shindler Stephanie Sargeant Grace Thuo Theodore Sam Ariel Garsow FAO World Health Organization Act4Food #FoodSafety, #HealthierDiets4All

 🇺🇬 𝗥𝗙𝗣 𝗢𝗣𝗣𝗢𝗥𝗧𝗨𝗡𝗜𝗧𝗬: 𝗖𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗜𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗘𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗨𝗴𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗮! Uganda is facing a critical triple burden of malnutrition, and secondary school learners are caught right in the middle of undernutrition, micronutrient deficiency, and rising overnutrition. The numbers from a 2024 dietary assessment of 4,008 learners across 60 secondary schools in and around Kampala speak for themselves: 📉 Only 25% of learners consumed all five recommended food groups daily. 🍽️ School meals delivered a mere 29% of daily iron requirements. 🥤 98% of school canteens sold sugar-sweetened beverages completely without restriction. No existing programme in Uganda addresses the urban secondary school food environment as an integrated system—until now. GAIN is launching an 18-month proof-of-concept pilot designed to test what works, at what cost, and under what conditions to generate evidence for a national scale-up. Because this project feeds findings directly into Uganda’s active national school feeding policy development process, the independent evaluation is a core project output. 𝗪𝗵𝗼 𝗪𝗲 𝗔𝗿𝗲 𝗟𝗼𝗼𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗙𝗼𝗿: We are seeking a rigorous, independent evaluation partner to act as a core thought partner throughout implementation. We need an organisation that will engage critically and constructively, bringing the intellectual rigour necessary to tell us exactly what the evidence shows. Your findings will be the primary basis on which GAIN and partners assess whether this integrated model merits a national scale-up. If your organisation excels at complex programme evaluations, data-driven public health research, and policy-linked evidence generation, we want to partner with you. 🔗 To review the full scope of work, access the RFP link in the pinned first comment below! 👇 Wendy Gonzalez Miriam Shindler Obot Nick Damali Ssali Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition - Uganda

Why does food safety matter to the economy? The cost of inaction is staggering.  According to the World Bank, unsafe food costs low- and middle-income economies about: • $ 110 billion in lost productivity and medical expenses each year.  • $95.2 billion in productivity loss.  • $15 billion in treating food-borne illnesses.  But this isn't just about money, it's about development. Strengthening food safety systems is key to achieving safe, nutritious food for all. Food safety supports market growth and consumer trust.  Investing in safety from farm to fork is an investment in economic resilience.  Annette Mongina Nyangaresi Grace Thuo Theodore Sam FAO World Health Organization Act4Food Nutrition Connect Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement  #FoodSafety  #InvestInNutrition

📜𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗕𝗹𝗼𝗴 𝗔𝗹𝗲𝗿𝘁 𝗔𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗼𝗳 #𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱𝗠𝗦𝗠𝗘𝗗𝗮𝘆 Across Sub-Saharan Africa, most Small and Medium Enterprises producing nutritious foods are family-owned enterprises. While informal, trust-based processes work in the early stages, expanding operations require stronger corporate governance to manage risks and support sustainable growth. To bridge these exact gaps, GAIN paired financial support with targeted technical assistance for two portfolio companies of the Nutritious Foods Financing Facility (N3F): 🇸🇳 Couvoir Amar (Senegal): A fast-growing poultry company whose operations were outpacing its management systems. Technical assistance helped introduce executive committee charters, delegation of authority policies, and formal leadership succession plans to institutionalise operations. 🇹🇿 Mkuza Chicks (Tanzania): A mature family enterprise reaching over 2,000 smallholder farmers. The initiative helped formalise regular board meetings, establish a family constitution, and build a resilient business continuity plan.  𝟰 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗼𝗻 𝗟𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗱:   • 𝙂𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙣𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙞𝙨 𝙖 𝙜𝙧𝙤𝙬𝙩𝙝 𝙚𝙣𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚𝙧, 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙖 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙢𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮: Documented policies and clear roles are essential to sustain scale and manage complexity.   • 𝙎𝙞𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙚 𝙩𝙤𝙤𝙡𝙨 𝙪𝙣𝙡𝙤𝙘𝙠 𝙢𝙚𝙖𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙛𝙪𝙡 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚: Practical frameworks like board charters and codes of conduct immediately improve oversight and internal controls.   • 𝙇𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙥 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙢𝙞𝙩𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙙𝙚𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙨 𝙨𝙪𝙘𝙘𝙚𝙨𝙨: True behavioral change only happens when founding families actively champion accountability and buy into the long-term vision.   • 𝙋𝙖𝙞𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙘𝙖𝙥𝙞𝙩𝙖𝙡 𝙞𝙣𝙫𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙨 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙧𝙤𝙗𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙜𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙣𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙛𝙧𝙖𝙢𝙚𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙠𝙨 ensures that nutrition-driven enterprises become resilient, transparent, and built to last. 🔗 Dive into this exciting blog by Roberta Bove and Adrien DOGO to learn more: https://lnkd.in/ehX5F6vE #HealthierDiets4All #InvestInNutrition Incofin Investment Management Lawrence Haddad CMG Polly Mwongera Yetunde Olarewaju, ANIPR

Why is food safety important? Because unsafe food undermines our ability to nourish the world.  Foodborne illness can decrease the body's ability to absorb nutrients, meaning that programmes focused on nutritious foods must consider safety to be effective.  The global statistics are alarming:   📉 600 million cases of foodborne diseases occur annually.   📉 420,000 deaths occur every year due to unsafe food.   📉 33 million years of healthy lives are lost globally each year.  Ensuring food safety is critical to decreasing malnutrition. We cannot achieve zero hunger without food safety.  Annette Mongina Nyangaresi Mduduzi Mbuya Penjani Mkambula Grace Thuo Theodore Sam FAO World Health Organization Act4Food Nutrition Connect Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement #HealthierDiets4All #FoodSafety #SDGs

📜 Fresh off the press: Market realities, policy roadblocks, and nutritional breakthroughs. Our global food systems move fast, and staying ahead of the data is critical. We’ve curated this week’s most impactful global media headlines to give you a quick, strategic look at how nutrition transformation is unfolding across our country offices right now. From the affordability gap to supply chain overhauls, here is your weekly briefing on where food policy meets real-world practice: 🌿 Global Insights: The future of nutrition—exploring how prioritising and scaling local, nutrient-dense foods is driving the core of global nutrition strategies and resilience. 🇳🇬 Nigeria: Deepening affordability gaps—a critical look at how the rising cost of a healthy diet in Nigeria is exposing widening food affordability challenges for vulnerable populations. 🇵🇰 Pakistan: Transforming value chains—addressing the intersection of policy and public health as Pakistan navigates urgent dairy sector reforms to counter its ongoing nutrition crisis. 🔗 Access all the full articles and media deep dives in the first pinned comment below! 👇 Which of these structural challenges or regional opportunities resonates most with your portfolio this week? Let’s connect in the comments. #GAINInTheNews Michael Ojo Farrah Naz Rozam Furqan Victor Ekeleme, ANIPR

🇰🇪 Kenya Takes a Giant Leap Toward Food Systems-Based Dietary Guidelines   Recently, nutrition scientists, policy experts, and development partners gathered in Nakuru, Kenya, for a technically intensive workshop to advance Kenya's first-ever Food Systems-Based Dietary Guidelines (FSBDGs). FOLU Kenya, operating through GAIN Kenya, is proud to convene and coordinate this transformative process.   Faced with a heavy triple burden of malnutrition and diet-related non-communicable diseases, Kenya is moving beyond traditional nutrient guidelines. The new FSBDGs will uniquely integrate health, environmental sustainability, cultural appropriateness, economic feasibility, and food system dynamics following the FAO's gold-standard six-stage methodology.   By aligning scientific evidence with real-world budget cycles and agro-ecological zones, Kenya is creating an actionable framework that will shape how millions eat, grow, and thrive for years to come.   🔗 Read the full article for a complete breakdown of the insights and next steps discussed: https://lnkd.in/eecfq8VX #HealthierDiets4All #FOLUKenya Ruth Okowa EBOW OSASO Emmanuel Ochola Matsaba Food and Land Use Coalition (FOLU) Patricia Wasunna Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) - Kenya Siamola Murundo