Ensuring safe food is a shared responsibility that depends on capacity and collaboration across diverse public and private sector stakeholders. Experience shows that countries with more capacity to manage food safety risks have a better understanding of the importance of close cooperation between the various public and private sector stakeholders involved and are more proactive in developing and implementing partnerships. Public-private partnership (PPP) platforms in the spirit of trusted collaboration could accelerate the development process and serve as a win-win situation for the industry, competent authorities, and consumers. PPP platforms that connect diverse stakeholders with a mutual interest allow building relationships and trust that improve food safety outcomes—a win-win situation for the industry, food safety authorities, and consumers. PPP platforms also create opportunities to leverage resources, which can help bridge the financing gaps needed to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), estimated to be around US$2.5 trillion every year.1 Food safety-related platforms facilitating information exchange in public and private actors are particularly vital to have lasting positive impacts on countries’ public health and economies benefiting from enhanced food trade.
The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) is one of several organizations in the Standards and Trade Development Facility (STDF), a partnership that convenes diverse stakeholders with a shared interest in facilitating safe trade. With longstanding experience in rolling out impactful partnerships that benefit developing countries, UNIDO’s latest collaboration with the STDF is piloting an innovative partnership approach to improve food safety outcomes using voluntary third-party assurance (vTPA) programs, based on a forthcoming Codex guidance. This work brings together public and private stakeholders involved in food safety regulation and management at the country level, as well as diverse international and regional partners. This article shares experiences and lessons about how UNIDO and the STDF have used partnerships to improve food safety, with a focus on ongoing work using the vTPA program approach.