| Description of Program Bangladesh, Egypt and Lebanon face considerable food safety and quality challenges. To increase productivity and profitability in the agriculture sectors, Land O’Lakes International Development is implementing F2F FSQ to address the important issues of food safety and quality with highly qualified volunteers. Volunteers assist and train others on good agricultural, veterinary, and manufacturing practices to improve the local food safety protocols and quality assurance systems from “field-to-fork.” The program will aim to work with agro-processors, associations, producers, exporters, and other partners and assist them in achieving greater market access. Volunteers and the country staff work in each country to increase the awareness of the Farmer-to-Farmer program to build deeper connections to the communities we are supporting. We also support, coach and mentor our returned volunteers on how they can best share their experiences with personal and professional networks. Problem Statement The Farmer-to-Farmer program provide technical assistance to host organizations working in agriculture production and/or agro-processing focusing on food safety and quality through US volunteer experts. Although the main goal remains Food safety and quality, the program has a very limited capabilities to implement flexible assignments that represent a significant need and result in a noticeable impact. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the F2F FSQ project will be fielding remote volunteers that will target the current food safety concerns as well as additional flexible topics. The host organization is a food startup manufacturer of all-natural nut butters in Lebanon like peanut butter, almond butter, and chocolate spreads. The host organization products are sugar and preservative free with a shelf life of 12 months. The host’s goal is to grow in Lebanon and to export to the GCC soon. Therefore, the host organization is seeking to implement a proper food safety system to ensure that the products produced are safe and comply with international standards. The host organization has a basic food safety system in place and aims to improve their current practices to be complaint with the international recognized food safety certificates. Currently, the company applies the basic food safety practices based on their knowledge. However, the host needs additional assistance to apply the appropriate production and processing method in their facility. Thus, the host requires additional technical support and are requesting a volunteer consultant that will work with their technical team on guiding them on food safety best practices for peanut butter and spreads production. Scope During the COVID-19 pandemic, many industries are taking the advantage of lockdown to improve their systems and products. The host organization’s goal is to increase their sales in local markets and export their products to international markets. The host organization requires advanced technical expertise to identify the food safety best practices and resolve the current gaps. The USAID funded Farmer-to-Farmer program aims to assist the host organizations to upgrade their current food safety system and improve the products safety and quality. The volunteer expert needs to work on the following topics: - Raw material reception from suppliers
- Peanut butter processing techniques ad best practices
- Packaging options
- Preventive methods of aflatoxin
Objectives and Outcomes of the assignment Objective: - Identify production best practices
- To build the capacity of the host organization in topics related to food safety and quality
Outcome: - Improved product safety
- Improve product quality
- Increased knowledge of production best practices
- Secured new markets
Volunteer Qualifications The recruited volunteer is expected to have the following skills and qualifications: - Educational Background: University degree related to Food Technology, Food Safety and Hygiene.
- Aware of food safety systems requirements such as HACCP, ISO 22000 and FSSC 22000 requirements
- The expert shall have a minimum of 15 years’ experience working in food processing and food safety
- Experience working with food processing facilities producing peanut butter is a preference.
- Good writing and computer skills
- Flexible for remote volunteering
- Available ASAP
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