From cow to consumer: using value chain approaches to evaluate infectious disease risk along dairy value chains serving urban consumers in Moshi Municipality, northern Tanzania

Ladbury, Georgia A.F. (2018) From cow to consumer: using value chain approaches to evaluate infectious disease risk along dairy value chains serving urban consumers in Moshi Municipality, northern Tanzania. PhD thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

The global population is rapidly urbanising, with East Africa experiencing some of the fastest rates of urban growth. Urbanisation drives changes in diet, including increased consumption of animal source products (ASPs), and livestock value chains are becoming increasingly long and complex to meet these demands. This may place urban consumers at increased risk of food-borne infectious diseases. Evaluation of food-borne disease (FBD) risk to urban consumers in developing countries has been hampered by a lack of data on the composition of urban diets, and a lack of methodologies to systematically assess risk along food value chains which are typically informal, unregistered, and unregulated. This research used a value chain risk assessment approach (VCRA) to evaluate food-borne infectious disease risks along dairy value chains supplying Moshi Municipality, the regional capital of Kilimanjaro, Northern Tanzania. Our findings demonstrated that by far the most frequently consumed products were unpackaged milk and mtindi (fermented milk). While there was some role for urban livestock keepers in supplying these products to their communities directly, most of the milk and mtindi sold within Moshi originated with milk produced by smallholder farmers in rural areas surrounding the towns. Both the milk and mtindi value chains involved similar value chain nodes and actors, with a large degree of overlap between the formal and informal sectors and little to no formal education or training on milk handling and hygiene for chain participants. VCRA identified the bulking, wholesale and retail stages of the value chain as potential hotspots for introducing infectious disease risk. Consumers were well informed about many of the FBD risks posed by milk, and took active steps to mitigate these risks by boiling before consumption; however they perceived mtindi as posing a lower risk and were unable to mitigate risks with any preparatory step as mtindi is consumed as purchased. The highest risk to consumers was estimated to be posed by mtindi rather than milk, particularly mtindi made from leftover unsold milk, as this milk had a high risk of contamination. More studies are needed to investigate the infectious hazards present in both mtindi and other fermented milk products which are consumed widely across the region. The practice of valorising leftover ASPs as alternative products for human consumption may represent a particular source of FBD risk to urban consumers in developing countries.

• Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
• Qualification Level: Doctoral
• Keywords: Dairy value chain, risk assessment, value chain risk assessment, zoonotic, urbanisation.
• Subjects: R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine > RA0421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine; S Agriculture > SF Animal culture > SF600 Veterinary Medicine
• Colleges/Schools: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > Institute of Biodiversity Animal Health and Comparative Medicine; College of Science and Engineering > School of Geographical and Earth Sciences > Geography
• Funder's Name: Medical Research Council (MRC)
• Supervisor's Name: Cleaveland, Professor Sarah, Sharp, Professor Jo and Halliday, Dr. Jo
• Date of Award: 2018
• Depositing User: Ms Georgia Ladbury
• Unique ID: glathesis:2018-9114
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 06 Jun 2018 08:38
• Last Modified: 16 Jul 2018 12:08
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/9114