She’s wild about food safety; she’s a research superstar; she’s a take-no-prisoners toxin buster; she’s our very own Charity Mutegi, research scientist. This International Women’s Day we’re taking time out to celebrate one amazing woman who is calling time on aflatoxins. And what better way to do so than in her own words?
“Food that harms us negates the very essence of why we eat and what food should be. Basic safety is the least we deserve, yet we have witnessed people die from the lack of it.”
In 2013 Charity received the Norman Borlaug Award for Innovation and Field Application, an international award from the World Food Prize Foundation that recognises young researchers for innovation in food security. Her national and international recognition did not end there: Charity was invited to contribute to a series of blogposts around the 2017 World Food Prize on the newly launched Borlaug Blog, exploring the theme of global food security.
In her post, Charity gives us a panoramic view of the invisible but deadly dangers in everyday African diets, and considers the dilemma of plenty versus safety. She examines aflatoxin and how scientific results are being translated into major mainstream change.
“Amongst those who know that aflatoxin can kill, many assume that they have escaped exposure and impact by being alive. I see these same people transformed once they understand how chronic exposure can affect their health.”
Charity is our Aflasafe R&D Manager for East Africa, working hard to maintain and continually improve the impressive power of Aflasafe against aflatoxin, and to bring the fruits of more than 15 years of research by the Aflasafe team to her fellow East Africans. With her passion for helping others eat well and stay safe, we’re sure she has even more to accomplish in the years to come.
“A full belly should sit within a healthy body. Food is essential to life, yet it is almost impossible to eat safely in much of Africa – and right there lies the paradox of achieving meaningful food security in our continent.”
Read her full Borlaug blogpost.
