SWITCH-Asia

The Challenge

Food safety in the Bangladeshi fruit and vegetable sector is an area of increasing concern. The consumers have lost confidence in locally produced foodstuffs. The current intense political and consumer pressure on the horticultural industry has urged the sector to adhere to food safety levels. With the legal framework for food safety in place and a strong market demand for sustainable and safe produce, there is now a conducive environment for change.

The Objectives

The project seeks to contribute to greater consumer confidence in domestically produced processed horticultural products, re- duced food safety incidences in the domestically processed horticultural products, and inclusive business development in the fruit and vegetable processing industry. At the end of the four- year project at least 50% of the domestically processed tomato and mango products marketed and consumed in Bangladesh will be certified safe.

The Way Forward

• Conducting survey and enhancing consumer awareness on safe domestically produced mango and tomato products;
• Establishing public-private agreement on a transparent and independently verifiable food safety assurance system;
• Setting up food safety standards;
• Building the capacity of supply chain actors using the “train the trainers” approach based on need assessment;
• Applying certification and communicating the results;
• Promote and support a transition towards sustainable and safe food markets from ‘field to fork’ in Bangladesh.

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