BUJUMBURA, February 27th (ABP) – “The production of quality foodstuffs that meet standards must start with primary production, i.e. from the farm to the fork”, said Dr Nahimana Paterne, a teacher and researcher at the University of Burundi and EANSI, during his presentation on Thursday 20 February 2025 on “quality management and control in food production” to players in the agri-food, hotel and catering sectors.
According to that researcher, there are unprocessed and processed food products. To have processed foods that meet quality standards, you have to start in the field, because the intrinsic quality of a food is produced in the field.
To grow crops, you have to comply with agricultural standards. You have to respect the quantity (the dose) of fertiliser to put on each crop because it varies from one crop to another. The same applies to the pesticides to be sprayed on them, because if you exceed the threshold, you’ll find them in the finished products.
When it comes to livestock farming, you also have to comply with standards to produce healthy products. As far as storage is concerned, we have to comply with food preservation standards, and above all avoid storing seeds in damp places to prevent the development of mould, which is harmful to consumer health.
To prepare food production at company level, Dr Nahimana points out that it is necessary to ensure that hygiene rules are met at all levels in the production environment. Sectors must be separated, and cleaning, disinfection and waste management must be carried out. In his opinion, staff play a major role. They must comply with hygiene rules to avoid contaminating the products. He also advised people to avoid cleaning the kitchen in the presence of food.
He stresses the need for appropriate packaging and to avoid the use of recycled packaging (reuse of single-use packaging) to prevent contamination of the products, which can lead to illness. Dr Nahimana also points out that food products must be transported in such a way that they are not destroyed, using refrigerated vehicles for those in need.
As far as equipment is concerned, companies must use stainless steel equipment, i.e. equipment that is not sticky, to avoid rust, which can also contaminate the food. Nahimana did not fail to mention the consequences of not complying with standards. He cited the health issues involved, explaining that there could be food poisoning or illnesses such as diabetes, hypertension, cancer and others.
On the economic front, the company could go bankrupt because customers would no longer come for supplies, and there could also be unemployment among the company’s employees. On the regulatory side, those in charge of standards may withdraw the approval granted to the company.
With regard to the challenges in Burundi, he cited the lack of strict regulations for the application of standards, low awareness of standards among manufacturers, no traceability of the product from upstream to downstream so that it can be withdrawn from the market if it has harmful effects. There is little consumer protection. For all those reasons, he asked entrepreneurs who manufacture products that meet the standards to share their experience with other entrepreneurs who are still behind. All contractors are invited to approach the BBN, which is the guarantor of the standards, and EANSI for technical assistance and support.