Food Enterprise Solutions Announces the Launch of Business Drivers for Food Safety in Nepal

Food-borne pathogens undermine the health and well-being of hundreds of millions of people across the globe each year. Inadequate food handling practices, poor infrastructure, and lack of access to reliable temperature control systems across supply chains increase health risks to consumers and are leading causes of pre-consumer food loss. Also, the advent of the COVID-19 has heightened consumer awareness about food safety. 

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Growing food businesses (GFBs) are key actors in moving and processing food from farm to consumer but are often financially and technically challenged to implement best food safety practices. To accelerate their adoption of food safety practices in Feed the Future (FTF) countries, Food Enterprise Solutions (FES) has partnered with the USAID Bureau for Resilience and Food Security to co-design and implement the “Business Drivers for Food Safety” (BD4FS) project.  The goal of BD4FS is to strengthen capacities of GFBs and make them agents of positive change in the effort to improve food safety, reduce malnutrition, mitigate pre-consumer food loss, and shrink overall hunger.

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Currently operating in Senegal, FES is pleased to announce start-up operations in Nepal, beginning with a Food Safety Situational Analysis (FSSA) to understand current food safety dynamics. The FSSA findings will inform a co-design process with GFBs, USAID Nepal, and other food system actors to identify and implement activities to combat food loss and the incidence of foodborne pathogens within animal-sourced foods and horticultural sectors. FES looks forward to working with USAID Nepal and other Feed the Future implementers to improve the food system of Nepal so that affordable, nutritious, and safe food is available in the marketplace for all consumers.