Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Food Safety (FSIL)
COVID-19 Rapid Response Project
The Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Food Safety (FSIL) is working to address COVID-19 related food safety and food security challenges in five target countries (Bangladesh, Cambodia, Kenya, Nepal, and Senegal). There is no evidence that COVID-19 is transmitted through food or food packaging, but the food industry must implement technical, organizational and personnel measures to manage risks associated with COVID-19. It is particularly important to reduce person-to-person transmission in all parts of the food system (e.g., farming, harvest, slaughter, processing) thereby reducing disruptions in the supply chain, preventing shutdowns of processing facilities and sustaining a safe food supply.
Although this project ended in June 2021, many of the resources developed can still be accessed from the country-specific web pages. Here are some of the accomplishments we achieved during the scope of the project. We built an international community of COVID-19 subject matter experts to support the food industry and mentored a team of in-country subject matter experts to coordinate Food Industry Virtual Office Hours within their own countries. In addition, we worked with this international food systems COVID-19 subject matter expert community to customize and translate relevant resources to assist the food industry during the COVID-19 pandemic.
International Food Systems COVID-19 Community
We have partnered with subject matter experts from six target countries. Learn more about our partners in the international food systems COVID-19 subject matter expert community and find translated resources for each target country here:
COVID-19 Video FAQs International Series
- COVID-19 is Not Foodborne (English) – How do we know for sure COVID-19 is not transmitted through food? Learn why COVID-19 is not a foodborne illness and how it spreads from person to person.
- COVID-19 is Not Foodborne (Swahili) – Je! Tunajuaje hakika COVID-19 haipatikani kupitia chakula? Jifunze kwa nini COVID-19 sio ugonjwa wa chakula na jinsi inavyoenea kutoka kwa mtu hadi mtu.
- COVID-19 is Not Foodborne (French) – Comment savons-nous avec certitude que le COVID-19 n'est pas transmis par les aliments? Découvrez pourquoi le COVID-19 n'est pas une maladie d'origine alimentaire et comment il se propage d'une personne à l'autre.
- COVID-19 is Not Foodborne (Nepali) – COVID-19 खाना मार्फत प्रसारित हुँदैन भनेर हामी कसरी पक्का हुन सक्छौं? सिक्नुहोस् किन COVID-१ food खाद्यजनित रोग होईन र यो कसरी व्यक्तिबाट अर्कोमा सर्छ।
- COVID-19 is Not Foodborne (Bangla) – আমরা কীভাবে নিশ্চিত যে COVID-19 খাবারের মাধ্যমে সঞ্চারিত হয় না? এখানে কেন COVID-19 কোনও খাদ্যজনিত অসুস্থতা নয় এবং কীভাবে এটি ব্যক্তি থেকে একজনে ছড়িয়ে পড়ে।
Selected COVID-19 Global Resources
- U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19)
- U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) COVID-19 Global Response
- World Health Organization (WHO) Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic
- World Health Organization (WHO) Nutrition and Food Safety (NFS) and COVID-19
- United Nations (UN) COVID-19 Response
- Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19)
- The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation COVID-19 Perspectives on the global response to the 2019 novel coronavirus
- COVID-19 Dashboard by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University
- International Food Policy Research Institute's (IFPRI's) COVID-19 and Global Food Security Report
This website is made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency of International Development (USAID). The contents are the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government. Program activities are funded by USAID under Cooperative Agreement No. 7200AA19LE00003.