Fabio Gonsalves, General Manager Novotel Nairobi Westlands
When guests sit down to an elegantly plated meal at a restaurant, they rarely pause to think about the journey that produce, meat, and seafood have taken before reaching their plates.
Yet every step between the farm and the fork is a potential hazard zone of contamination, spoilage, and mishandling that can turn a delightful dining experience into a health crisis, one that we are constantly seeing in the headlines.
Fundamentally, the success of East Africa’s hospitality strongly hinges on food safety.
With unsafe food costing the global economy over $110 billion annually through lost productivity and medical expenditures, the hospitality industry needs to leverage science to protect health and enhance the region’s culinary excellence by creating an environment where visitors can indulge with confidence, our local farmers thrive, and the industry flourishes.
In a world where an estimated 600 million – almost 1 in 10 people in the world fall ill after eating contaminated food, and 420,000 die every year, it has become essential to prioritise the highest standards of food safety, especially in the hospitality industry.
Foodborne illnesses and contamination have been known to impede socioeconomic development by straining health care systems and harming national economies, trade, and the tourism sector
Ensuring the safety and well-being of guests while also upholding the highest culinary standards is of critical importance, especially for the East African region as we head to the high season.
While the world is celebrating this year’s World Food Safety Day, under the theme "Food Safety: Science in Action which highlights the revolutionary power of scientific knowledge in reducing illness, cutting costs, and saving lives in all stages of the food chain.
This theme is a call to action, especially to the hospitality industry, to not only protect consumers but to strengthen our position in the competitive global tourism and hospitality market.
While East Africa’s rich agricultural landscape provides plenty of fresh produce and seafood, its full potential is yet to be realised.
To do this, it has to be paired with stringent food safety measures informed by scientific innovation.
Putting in place measures like tracking systems, temperature checks, and routine microbial inspections throughout the supply chain is essential to reduce contamination risks and prevent foodborne illnesses
What’s more, the East African industry needs to urgently invest heavily in staff training and awareness, ensuring everyone from farmers and transporters to chefs and servers understands the science behind food safety.
This shift toward knowledge-based practices will not only safeguard public health but also reduce operational costs related to waste, frequent recalls, and reputational damage.
Leading hotels and restaurants in the East African region have begun to set the bar high with Accor’s Novotel Nairobi Westlands leading by example, which it has been integrating scientific protocols and staff education to deliver safe dining experiences that meet international standards since opening its doors in August 2024.
Novotel Westlands Nairobi’s commitment has shown how crucial it is to embrace farm-to-fork accountability as it not only boosts guest confidence but also positions East African hospitality as world-class.
Keen to note is that the journey is far from being over as an industry, we need to collectively work together to make food safety regulations uniform and consistent, enhance inspection structures and frameworks, and encourage partnerships between agricultural producers, scientific institutions, and the larger hospitality industry .
Other stakeholders across the board in governments, the private sector, and NGOs also need to collaborate and champion innovation, from digital monitoring tools to sustainable farming methods, to support a food system that is safe by design.
The writer is the General Manager Novotel Nairobi Westlands
