OpinionOpinion by Desmond T.MugadzaZimbabwe’s food safety system is crippled by archaic laws unfit for modern risks according to a new empirical study.The study, titled “Food Safety Governance in Zimbabwe: Challenges, Regulatory Gaps and Strategies for Global Compliance” published in the highly rated Q1 journal Food Control provides one of the most comprehensive assessments to date of the country’s outdated legal framework.Conducted by scholars and practitioners from Great Zimbabwe University, Midlands State University, the Government Analyst Laboratory, Harare Institute of Technology, Marondera University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology and partners in the United Kingdom, the research exposes how laws from a bygone era directly undermine food safety in the 21st century.Researchers detail a framework governed by more than 40 laws and regulations spread across several ministries. Crucially, most key Acts were enacted or last updated before 2002 with some foundational legislation dating back to the 1920s.These relics are ill-equipped to address modern challenges such as complex global supply chains, emerging contaminants, biotechnology and climate-related food risks leaving the population vulnerable.The study identifies fragmentation as a critical weakness exacerbated by outdated laws. Responsibility is divided among ministries for health, agriculture, industry and higher education leading to overlapping mandates, duplicated efforts and conflicting enforcements.
While formal businesses face multiple inspections the vast informal markets where most Zimbabweans source food often operate in regulatory gaps created by this archaic and disjointed system.An assessment of three key public food control laboratories :the Government Analyst Laboratory, the Central Veterinary Laboratory and the Standards Association of Zimbabwe laboratory found they operate under international quality standards. However, obsolete legal and institutional frameworks hinder coordination and centralized data sharing.Gaps persist in advanced testing capacity such as food allergen analysis which is essential for modern consumer protection and export markets.Furthermore Zimbabwe’s archaic standards cause a dangerous misalignment with international norms particularly the Codex Alimentarius which governs global trade. Discrepancies in food additive regulations and maximum residue limits among others not only restrict export access but also expose domestic consumers to outdated safety benchmarks.Researchers cite cases where locally approved products were rejected internationally for failing to meet contemporary Codex-based requirements.The study calls for urgent and decisive reform.
Key recommendations include wholesale modernization of food safety laws, mandating risk-based systems like Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) and establishing a centralized food safety authority to overcome historic fragmentation.Researchers also advocate for a “One Health” approach to better address interconnected foodborne risks.Ultimately the researchers argue that food safety is a public health and economic imperative. The persistence of colonial-era laws poses a direct threat to public health, facilitates foodborne illness outbreaks, erodes consumer trust and stifles trade. The study, titled “Food Safety Governance in Zimbabwe: Challenges, Regulatory Gaps and Strategies for Global Compliance” published in the highly rated Q1 journal Food Control provides one of the most comprehensive assessments to date of the country’s outdated legal framework.
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Conducted by scholars and practitioners from Great Zimbabwe University, Midlands State University, the Government Analyst Laboratory, Harare Institute of Technology, Marondera University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology and partners in the United Kingdom, the research exposes how laws from a bygone era directly undermine food safety in the 21st century. Researchers detail a framework governed by more than 40 laws and regulations spread across several ministries. Crucially, most key Acts were enacted or last updated before 2002 with some foundational legislation dating back to the 1920s.
These relics are ill-equipped to address modern challenges such as complex global supply chains, emerging contaminants, biotechnology and climate-related food risks leaving the population vulnerable. The study identifies fragmentation as a critical weakness exacerbated by outdated laws. While formal businesses face multiple inspections the vast informal markets where most Zimbabweans source food often operate in regulatory gaps created by this archaic and disjointed system.
An assessment of three key public food control laboratories :the Government Analyst Laboratory, the Central Veterinary Laboratory and the Standards Association of Zimbabwe laboratory found they operate under international quality standards. However, obsolete legal and institutional frameworks hinder coordination and centralized data sharing. Gaps persist in advanced testing capacity such as food allergen analysis which is essential for modern consumer protection and export markets.
Furthermore Zimbabwe’s archaic standards cause a dangerous misalignment with international norms particularly the Codex Alimentarius which governs global trade. Discrepancies in food additive regulations and maximum residue limits among others not only restrict export access but also expose domestic consumers to outdated safety benchmarks.
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