Each year, 600 million people become ill and many die because of unsafe food (WHO, 2015) Up to 38% of those affected were children under five years of age, and 53% were people living in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Improving food safety is a global challenge and although innovative solutions are being developed to make food safer around the world, not enough of these innovations have been applied in traditional food markets or along the food supply chains that supply these markets. To address this gap, GAIN together with USAID-funded Feed The Future program, Evidence and Action Towards Safe, Nutritious Food (EatSafe), launched the EatSafe Innovation Challenge in Ethiopia and Nigeria. It aims to encourage the development of food safety solutions or safer food products with the goal of improving food safety for consumers in traditional markets.

The innovations are centered across seven categories along the food supply chain: peer learning platforms, food processing, food waste technology, sensors for food safety assessment, retailing and packaging, urban-rural linkages and food system logistics, and platforms for supply chain management. The call for applications was launched in April 2022. A total of 740 entries were received from Nigeria and Ethiopia. After the two national competition challenges, six innovative concepts emerged as the finalists and will proceed to the Grand Finale at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) on October 13 2022 to pitch their innovation and work with DTU technical experts.