PROJECT SPOTLIGHT

STDF | Piloting the Use of Voluntary Third-Party Assurance Programs in East Africa

Leveraging data to improve food safety outcomes for public health and trade.
2022 – 2025

Funded by the World Trade Organization’s Standards and Trade Development Facility (STDF), the project is piloting the use of a voluntary third-party assurance (vTPA) program in Ugandan fisheries and Rwanda’s horticulture sector. VTPA programs provide the opportunity for food businesses to participate voluntarily in formal, documented food safety systems. The program is assessing how these voluntary programs may be able to improve resource management, increase compliance with national food safety standards and regulations, and improve public health outcomes and trade opportunities in Uganda and Rwanda. Implemented by Land O’ Lakes Venture37, the project collaborates with food safety authorities in both countries. The pilot complements two simultaneous vTPA pilots in West Africa and Central America.

PROJECT FOCUS AREAS

1. Building Capacity of Regulatory Authorities

The program is helping regulatory authorities in Rwanda and Uganda assess and use data and information generated by vTPA programs.

2. Boosting Businesses’ Food Safety

By improving food safety compliance of horticulture and fishery-related food businesses, based on the use of vTPA programs, the program is helping inform how to better protect consumers against food safety risks.

3. Increasing Awareness for Food Safety Regulators

The program’s dissemination and learning component helps build awareness about vTPA applications in other countries, which can help food safety regulators make data-driven decisions about how to improve food safety in their own contexts.

Country Context

East Africa | Rwanda and Uganda

The large number of small producers and food businesses needing regulatory oversight, coupled with increasing demands for food safety and quality, presents challenges to food safety authorities in Rwanda and Uganda. The use of data from vTPA programs is an opportunity to move towards a more agile, modernized approach that allows greater coverage of the whole food control systems on a risk-based approach.

What is a vTPA program?

Voluntary Third-Party Assurance (vTPAs) programs are an opportunity for food businesses to participate in formal, documented food safety systems.