IJCA - Volume 3 - Flipbook - Page 55
2024 | Volume 3, Issue 1
53
The AOAC Africa Laboratory Performance
Benchmarking Program
By the AOAC Africa Scienti昀椀c Committee
The AOAC Scientific Subcomittee members include: Yolande Ake-Assi, Augustus Babarinde, Talatu Ethan,
Dr. Maria Fernandes-Whaley, Owen Fraser, PhD, Cheetham Lawrence Mingle, Ephram Moruke, Michael Ndlovu,
Rosemary Njeri Nganga, and Dr. Liberty Sabanda
DOI: 10.55459/IJCA/v3i1/AR
-ABSTRACTAOAC AFRICA has done extensive work to establish
the state of analytical capacity on the continent
and to make practical remedial recommendations.
The most recent iteration of its Laboratory
Performance Benchmarking Survey (LPBS), in which
38 laboratories from eight countries participated
in a series of six tests to assess the accuracy and
reliability of the participating laboratories’ results,
revealed some concerning trends:
• Nearly half of laboratories testing for aflatoxins in
peanut slurry did not pass.
• 75% of those testing for aflatoxin in maize did not pass.
• On average, up to half the testing for vitamins in
fortified maize did not pass.
• Evidence of inappropriate result sharing between
laboratories undergoing accreditation.
Keywords: Analytical capacity, Food safety, A昀氀atoxins,
Laboratory performance benchmarking survey (LPBS),
AOAC Africa, ARSO, Foodborne illnesses, Conformity assessment,
African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCTA)
Introduction
AOAC Africa Section has continued consolidating its
emerging partnership with the African Organisation
for Standardisation (ARSO) throughout 2023 to
develop analytical methods suited to the continent’s
most widely consumed foodstuffs. At the same
time, AOAC Africa—which represents the continent’s
analytical science community, working in conformity
assessment and food safety laboratories all over
the continent—has warned that a quantum leap in
analytical capacity investment is needed if Africa is
to resolve its food safety challenges and meet its
food security need and international and continental
agrifood trade ambitions.
Partners’ Views
AOAC Section President Mrs. Winta Sintayehu
described the ARSO partnership as a significant
step in helping the continent achieve the objectives
of the African Continental Free Trade Area. “It might
seem hard to believe, but until recently, there were
hardly any testing methods for the most commonly
consumed African foodstuffs. This is especially
concerning as the African Continental Free Trade
Area (AfCFTA) really gathers pace, because the
testing methods being used aren’t designed for the
specifics of African foods. As we end the African
Union 2023 theme, ‘Year of AfCFTA: Acceleration
of the African Continental Free Trade Area
Implementation,’ we believe it‘s high time for action
in this area, which is why we have been hard at work
with ARSO on a method to test for contaminants
and nutritional contents in cassava. The standards
will improve the safety and quality of cassava and
cassava products.”
According to ARSO Secretary General Hermogene
Nsengimana, the new method is a welcome
development and will open the door to much-needed
collaboration. “If we are going to test conformity
in our indigenous foods reliably, we need testing
methods that are fit for purpose, so that wherever
we sell them—domestically, elsewhere in Africa,
or beyond—we can be assured of their safety and
quality. This way, African-developed analytical
methods will ensure that African foods can compete
for quality and nutritional value across the continent
and across the world. This is a significant step on
ARSO‘s path toward our goal of ‘One Standard One
Test Accepted Everywhere.’ We are delighted with our
collaboration with AOAC and believe this will be the
first of many such testing methods specific to our
staple African foods.”
Continuing, Winta Sintayehu said, “AOAC Africa has a
proven track record in capacity building programmes
in recent years. This partnership with ARSO
complements existing programmes with laboratories
