Piloting an Intervention to Improve Microbiological Food Safety in Peri-Urban Mali

This paper by Touré et al. (2013) published in the International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health summarises the findings of a study on weaning food hygiene in Mali which built up an experiment applying the HACCP approach to preparation of two common weaning foods (moni and fish soup) and using it to develop simple hygiene measures which mothers could take in preparing and serving foods to their children, to prevent contamination. The intervention was very effective in reducing the prevalence and intensity of faecal contamination – the latter by several orders of magnitude – and thus in achieving behaviour change. The HACCP approach was also found to be effective in identifying the specific behaviour changes that would bring about such reductions