{"id":5345,"date":"2025-05-09T10:48:35","date_gmt":"2025-05-09T10:48:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/foodsafety4africa.eu\/?p=5345"},"modified":"2025-05-12T08:24:55","modified_gmt":"2025-05-12T08:24:55","slug":"solid-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foodsafety4africa.eu\/fr\/solid-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"FS4Africa at the SOLID Symposium 2025 in Leiden"},"content":{"rendered":"

From April 24th to 25th, 2025, the International SOLID Symposium<\/strong><\/a> took place, focusing on the theme: Prospects and Applications of FAIR Linked Data Spaces<\/em>. The event provided an opportunity to showcase the FS4Africa project through a poster presentation and a lively three-hour discussion during the VODAN\/FCI4Africa<\/strong> session on Interoperability. The session concentrated on developing a roadmap for connecting agriculture, food, and health systems towards a convergence economy.<\/p>\n

Creating clarity in the \u201cinformal\u201d food sector<\/h6>\n

The symposium offered valuable opportunities to explore and clarify the concept of the Mezzanine approach<\/strong>, presented by two FS4Africa partners from Wageningen: Wageningen University<\/a><\/strong> et Wageningen Research<\/strong><\/a>. Drawing on a systematic review of the literature, the project elaborated on what constitutes the informal sector, the theoretical foundations of informality, and the challenges and barriers it faces in transitioning to formality.<\/p>\n

The studies and discussions brought forward interesting insights. The informal sector is often defined by what it lacks\u2014such as formal registration, regulatory oversight, infrastructure, and knowledge\u2014rather than by what it represents or offers to its participants. The insights also uncovered the challenges in the transition to formality, such as the cultural and social embeddedness of the informal sector, its low barriers to entry, and its agility.<\/p>\n

The Mezzanine Approach<\/h6>\n

Le Mezzanine approach<\/em>\u2014a term inspired by the architectural concept of an intermediate floor between two main levels\u2014serves as a metaphor for a hybrid or in-between method. It proposes a tailored food safety strategy that aligns with the characteristics of the informal sector, supporting its gradual transition toward semi-formality<\/em>. The specific elements of this approach are currently being defined through ongoing surveys and use case studies.<\/p>\n

Food Safety and Data<\/h6>\n
\"\"
Dr. Ayalew Kassahun of Wageningen University<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The SOLID symposium was dominated by themes and discussions on FAIR data, data spaces, privacy, interoperability, and technology\u2014largely focusing on health data. The World Health Organisation (WHO)<\/strong> estimates \u201c600 million \u2013 almost 1 in 10 people in the world \u2013 fall ill after eating contaminated food and 420,000 die every year\u201d<\/em>, which illustrates how food systems and health systems are closely intertwined.<\/p>\n

As the informal sector is characterised by a lack of regulatory oversight and the lack of the necessary data, Dr. Ayalew Kassahun<\/strong> of Wageningen University<\/strong> stressed the importance of aggregated patient data from health facilities, which have relatively better digitalisation, to quantify food safety issues and enable timely interventions.<\/p>\n

Food Convergence Initiative<\/h6>\n

During the session, the strong link between food and health systems was further highlighted, demonstrating the importance of the FCI (Food Convergence Innovation)<\/strong> approach adopted in FS4Africa<\/strong> et FCI4Africa<\/a>. The session, organised by Dr. Laurette Dub\u00e9<\/strong> of McGill University<\/a><\/strong> et Dr. Fadel Ndiame<\/strong> of Food Systems Transformation Solutions<\/a><\/strong>, was also attended by panel discussants who are members of one or both projects, including Dr.ir. Gijs Kleter<\/strong> et Sabine Desczka<\/strong> of Wageningen Research<\/strong><\/a>, and Prof. Lise Korsten<\/strong> of the L' Universit\u00e9 de Pr\u00e9toria<\/strong><\/a>. The session attracted distinguished presenters, discussants, and attendees with expertise in agriculture, food, health systems, and data sciences, showing both the value of the approach and the synergy among the relevant projects that were represented, along with VODAN Africa<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Overall, the symposium significantly contributed to FS4Africa\u2019s mission to promote a holistic and inclusive approach to food safety.<\/p>\n\n

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    \n\t\t\t <\/ul>\n <\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    From April 24th to 25th, 2025, the International SOLID Symposium took place, focusing on the theme: Prospects and Applications of FAIR Linked Data Spaces. The event provided an opportunity to showcase the FS4Africa project through a poster presentation and a lively three-hour discussion during the VODAN\/FCI4Africa session on Interoperability. The<\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5354,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"iawp_total_views":20,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,17],"tags":[27,26,35,38,39,28,62,42],"class_list":["post-5345","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsroom","category-project-news","tag-african-informal-sector","tag-food-safety","tag-food-safety-for-africa","tag-horizon-eu","tag-research-impact-eu","tag-sustainable-africa","tag-vodan","tag-wageningen-university-research"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/foodsafety4africa.eu\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5345","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/foodsafety4africa.eu\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/foodsafety4africa.eu\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foodsafety4africa.eu\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foodsafety4africa.eu\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5345"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/foodsafety4africa.eu\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5345\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5357,"href":"https:\/\/foodsafety4africa.eu\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5345\/revisions\/5357"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foodsafety4africa.eu\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/foodsafety4africa.eu\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foodsafety4africa.eu\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foodsafety4africa.eu\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}