Issue 8, December 2019
Welcome!
 The worldwide food-safety momentum and galvanisation that was the hallmark of our shared sphere of work in 2019 continued right up to the end of the year. With the tempo rising.
We too at ATTC did our bit and rose to the occasion, convening the 1st Aflasafe for Africa Conference, fighting aflatoxin in food – a first-ever, as the name suggests. This 8th edition of ATTC News focuses on that November 2019 conference, its fruitful deliberations and the invaluable insights it offered.
But first, as always, let’s hear from our MD.
A word from the ATTC MD, Matiéyédou Konlambigue
Our Managing Director reflects on last month’s Aflasafe for Africa Conference. What are the major take-aways and what does it all mean for business and governments? What’s the next phase in the Aflasafe journey? More
1st Aflasafe for Africa Conference, fighting aflatoxin in food
With the theme Business meets research for safer food in Africa, this inaugural Aflasafe for Africa (A4A) conference was held from 4th to 5th November 2019 in Arusha, Tanzania, with 110 participants from 15 African nations and from beyond Africa.
One matter was clear: we must revisit our telling of the Aflasafe story and make the product the hero, as advised by Mr Frank Braeken, former President, Unilever Africa. We must tap into the emotion in our discussions and conversations on what Aflasafe does and why it is important. Fact is, at this point in time, Aflasafe is peerless to our best knowledge, and its particularity must be addressed and harnessed for market success, which ultimately means success in fighting aflatoxin in Africa’s food with a proven and powerful homegrown tool made in Africa.
And so, as 2020 beckons, thanks to the generosity of conference discussants, we at ATTC now also have a 2020 vision on commercialising Aflasafe gleaned from all the rich and deep interactions at the conference that gave us external perspectives and insights we would not otherwise have. We will now endeavour to translate all we heard and saw and internalised into concrete action, as – together with partners – we don Aflasafe the hero with blue-collar working clothes for the monumental task ahead.
So, buckle up please, as we’re about to embark on a new and even more exciting phase in the Aflasafe journey! More
Flying high with dry inoculum, thanks to R&D
Aflasafe is firmly anchored in solid science, with 16+ years of dedicated research behind the product, years of peer-reviewed publishing in respected and authoritative top journals, plus several external and internal awards, and counting. Top Aflasafe scientists were at hand at the conference to present the science behind Aflasafe in everyday terms in a session dedicated to the Aflasafe technology, and to answer questions.
One ground-breaking development unveiled at the conference was dry inoculum. What this technical jargon means in everyday terms is that, amazingly, Aflasafe manufacturers anywhere in Africa can now receive enough super-concentrate of Aflasafe’s ‘secret sauce’ (ie, the active ingredients used to make Aflasafe) to protect an entire country in a package no bigger than an ordinary handbag!
Sweet news indeed for Aflasafe manufacturers, as Senegal, the pioneer dry-inoculum user, attests.
This serves as a stark reminder that product research and development do not end by dint of commercialisation. Good products are continually adapted to a changing reality, be this in improving the product itself, or improving its production (such as this dry inoculum innovation), or adapting the product to emerging new realities as they unfold.
Communications from the conference, and further afield
Two core and very closely coupled conversation-starters for the A4A Conference were:
- a focussed brief entitled Our journey from incubation to market: Status of Aflasafe commercialisation in Africa; and,
- a more expansive video that also encompasses product R&D, tracing the Aflasafe journey from science to market. This broader introductory video was the curtain-raiser for the A4A business sessions that immediately succeeded the formal opening ceremony.
The conference brochure and programme, as well as presentations, are all on the conference page – the definitive one-stop shop for all matters A4A.
Curious about the conference logo? Here's what it's all about. Africa is Aflasafe's sole geographical focus. The rising sun represents a new aflatoxin-safe dawn for Africa, protected by the in-palm made-from-nature Aflasafe. Groundnuts, maize and sorghum fall u nder the protection of our green product, with green representing both the lush landscape as well as symbolising safety. The protective and unbroken stout green sweeping bands represent the guarantee and continuity of Aflasafe, fighting aflatoxin from plot to plate to stop contamination from reaching dangerous levels in the food we eat.
To re-affirm just how plugged-in the conference was in contemporary conversations in Africa today on food safety, less than a week on the Sunday following the conference (10th November), a highly emotive and eye-opening aflatoxin documentary was aired at prime time in neighbouring Kenya, alerting the nation on the deadly menace of aflatoxin in maize meal – the country's main staple served on every table. The documentary had – and continues to have – an extraordinary footprint, reaching audiences well outside Kenya, and resulting in massive media coverage on aflatoxin within and beyond the country's borders.
Again, this emphasises the perennial importance of research on both aflatoxin the problem, and Aflasafe, the solution. IITA's steadfast Aflasafe research has hit sweet sixteen in 2019, and we bring you an ample harvest of recent science papers by our outstanding R&D team. We're not just blowing our trumpet on how stellar our scientists are, as it is being blown elsewhere by others: we are thrilled to announce that our very own Alejandro Ortega-Beltrán – a keynote presenter and panellist at the A4A Conference – received a Best Young Scientist award later in November.
In the spirit of science whose core tenet is credit where it is due, and also in the spirit of this festive season of giving and goodwill, please join us in congratulating and celebrating the researchers everywhere who have dedicated their lives to the eternal quest for solutions for safer food on our plates; the tireless sentinels who ceaselessly signal and caution us of the enemy at the gate on a matter of life and death as we all eat food. And so let's likewise each always do our bit to be – and to stay – aflatoxin-safe!
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