World Food Day 2024: Get to know Charles Yeo, PhD student at University of Nangui Abrogoua (Côte d’Ivoire)
01 November 2024
Ensuring the right to food for all requires collective action to tackle hunger and poverty. This means prioritising the production and consumption of diverse, safe and nutritious foods, while building resilience against shocks, vulnerabilities, and stresses.
The academic community plays a crucial role in this mission. Research, data, technology, and innovation can be powerful tools for enhancing food safety and food security, as well as for transforming agrifood systems for a better future and a better life for all.
That’s why UPRISE is taking action by training 11 PhD students under joint EU-AU supervision to become future leaders and food safety ambassadors for Africa. These researchers will play a key role in supporting food safety risk assessment and management to reduce mycotoxin levels, by developing guides, toolkits, early warning systems and microbiome- based innovations.
Get to know Charles Yeo, PhD student at University of Nangui Abrogoua (Côte d’Ivoire).
Charles' research focuses on improving the quality culture in the Cocobaca value chain in Côte d’Ivoire, with a particular emphasis on mycotoxin reduction. Cocobaca, a fermented porridge made from maize and millet, is a culturally and nutritionally important food that is widely consumed. However, the risk of mycotoxin contamination in the grains used for its production poses a significant threat to food safety and public health.
His work involves analysing the various stages of Cocobaca production, from raw material cultivation to final consumption, identifying critical points where mycotoxins may develop. This includes field surveys with key actors in the Cocobaca value chain ( e.g. raw material producers, raw material sellers, Cocobaca producers, and consumers), along with laboratory analyses of raw materials and finished products to measure contamination levels.
The aim of his research is to identify preventive, monitoring, and corrective actions at critical points where mycotoxin contamination may occur. This research contributes to enhancing food safety in Côte d’Ivoire , aligning with the UP-RISE project’s goal of strengthening the African Food Safety System (SAFA). By focusing on fermented food value chains of economic and nutritional significance, his work on reducing mycotoxin presence in foods like Cocobaca will help to ensure greater food security and safeguard public health in Côte d’Ivoire.
Video: Charles Yeo
Gallery
