Job Description
Project Description:
With funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Land O’Lakes Venture37 is leading an innovative, demand-driven Food for Progress Safety and Quality Investment in Livestock (SQIL) project to improve food safety and quality along Georgia’s dairy and beef value chains. Throughout the project, Land O’Lakes is partnering with the Georgian Farmers’ Association, uniting agribusiness know-how with industry leading food safety acumen and deep Georgian agribusiness connections. From farm-to-fork, this project works to reduce losses, improve food safety and quality, boost competitiveness, productivity and trade within the Georgian dairy and beef market systems.
SQIL is implemented through targeted facilitative interventions that identify and support entrepreneurs within the dairy and beef market systems with the attitude and willingness to become more competitive. SQIL initiatives also reflect a commitment to increasing opportunities for women and young people and improved resilience to climate change.
The project aims to achieve these goals through an integrated approach that has six interlinked components:
- Expand Market Access. Strengthen and expand existing dairy and beef industry associations in Georgia to serve as a knowledge and marketing platform for the domestic dairy and beef products. Support the association members to develop industry lead Seal of Quality (SOQ) standards and certification process to represent Georgian measures of excellence and international manufacturing best practices. The effort will be accompanied by a national multimedia campaign to raise domestic consumers’ awareness of the SOQ and alert the agribusiness industry to the benefits of achieving higher food safety and quality standards.
- Improve Sanitary and Phytosanitary Standards. Build the capacity of farmers and Georgian dairy and beef business operators with technical assistance. Work with government institutions to disseminate public extension content and food safety information. Support the National Food Agency (NFA) over the project duration to build the operational infrastructure and human resource capacity within the agency. Refine the food safety training curricula within Georgia’s top universities offering food safety–oriented degree programs.
- Improve Post-Harvest Handling and Storage. Conduct an analysis of the cold storage, transportation and logistics system across the targeted regions and identify areas for management and infrastructural improvements as they relate to the dairy and beef market systems. Leverage supply chain optimization tools to determine their baseline capacity, logistics and management functionality of operators. Forge linkages between selected firms and commercial banks offering loan products to facilitate lending for infrastructural improvements.
- Improve Productivity. Use the project innovation fund and technical assistance to incentivize entrepreneurial businesses to scale different models for extension services, increased competitiveness and input provision to dairy and beef farmers. Integrate and embed with input providers and buyers training topics and tools that educate farmers on improved and more productive farm management practices. Organize annual herd and carcass competitions to enable farmers to showcase their livestock and the results of their improved practices, and input providers to highlight the benefits gained from using more productive livestock rearing techniques, technologies and practices.
- Improve Access to Financial Services. Use the project innovation fund to focus on increasing product, service and business model innovation for embedded extension services and improved food safety and quality within the dairy and beef market systems. Co-investment partners will be selected using a competitive process. Investments will be coupled with technical assistance to support co-investors to implement their business growth plans. Promote linkages to commercial banks for continued financing. Provide technical support to insurance providers and financial institutions to further the development of livestock insurance products, scale them, and improve linkages between insurance and credit provider’s products that decrease lending risk.
- Capacity Building to Inform Food Safety Policy Development. Mobilize policy experts to assess the Government of Georgia’s (GoG) food safety policy and provide technical assistance to GoG on policy and institutional formulation and reform that enables Georgia to meet international standards. Work with industry associations to develop plans and benchmarks for proposed policy reforms impacting food safety. Facilitate Georgian associations’ engagement with governmental working groups and civic forums to advocate for dairy and beef industry growth.
Opportunity Background:
Since the regulatory limit for Salmonella in food was established in Georgia, improving the quantitative and qualitative indicators of laboratory diagnostics is crucial. Because of the scarcity of bacteriological laboratories based in-country, most cases of food poisoning are not properly researched and are recorded as suspected food poisoning or diarrhea of probable infectious origin.
According to Decree #323 dated July 5, 2017, “Rules for monitoring zoonoses and zoonotic agents”, the National Food Agency should assess trends and sources of zoonosis, zoonotic agents, antimicrobial resistance and outbreaks of foodborne diseases, but none of the accredited laboratories are ready to conduct serological analysis of microbes, such as Salmonella.
Hence, testing of parameters defined by new legal acts harmonized with EU legislation are not fully enforced, which is largely caused by the lack of lab capacity.
Given the fact that 13 out of 21 monitoring programs for state control of food safety are already carried out by LEPL State laboratory of Agriculture (SLA), technical support of the SLA in those segments that cannot be mastered by private labs but are necessary for state (official) control of food safety, it underlines the trend of stability during performance of food safety state control.
In the State Laboratory of the Agriculture, serotyping of only two species of Salmonella namely Salmonella enteritidis and Salmonella typhimurium have been introduced using the standard - SST ISO 6579-3: 2014/2015. SLA requires training on at least 3 serotypes of Salmonella, namely: Salmonella hadar, Salmonella virchow, Salmonella infantis. These research methods are to be used in both biochemical and molecular biology.
The role of the international STTA will be to provide technical assistance to the microbiological laboratory division of the State Laboratory of Agriculture (SLA) in selecting the detection and characterization analytical reference method of Salmonella serotypes, as well as training of the SLA’s personal.
Scope of Work:
According to the Epidemiology Bulletin – 2016 of the National Center for Disease Control and Public Health of the Ministry of Internally Displaced Persons from the Occupied Territories, Labour, Health and Social Affairs of Georgia, food-borne disease are more or less frequently registered in all countries of the world and the incidence of this pathology is quite high in Georgia. According to the statistics from the years 2012-2016, the share of cases of unknown etiology is very high in Georgia, which is mainly due to the nosology of suspected food poisoning; however, the number of such cases is increasing from year to year.
Salmonellosis dominates among food poisoning infections of defined etiology. In 2012-2016, 10,489 cases of suspected food poisoning were registered, during the same period the bacterial etiology of food-borne disease was established only in 1,194 cases out of which 68% (809) were caused by Salmonella.
The successful implementation of the above planned interventions will lead to the improvement of the epidemiological investigation of an outbreak(s) of foodborne diseases carried out in cooperation with the GoG agencies’ competent authorities. Consequently, it will contribute into the coordinated antimicrobial resistance monitoring program of the country, that detects Salmonella contaminations in a timely manner in the entire food chain (animal feed, living animals, slaughterhouses, retail sector, and restaurants) together with sanitary measures and prevents human Salmonella infections. Therefore, development of rapid and sensitive methods for the detection and characterization of Salmonella may have a significant impact on the disease burden caused by this pathogen.
In addition, as this activity will lead to establishing modern, in depth methods of Salomella spp diagnostics sectoral businesses such as dairy and meat producers and processors will also benefit since they will have advanced capacity in the country to proof compliance of their products to local food safety regulations. This activity will also enhance GoG in implementing state food safety control activities.
Level of Effort: about 80 days
Period of Performance: Negotiable
Place of Performance: Remote and In-person (Tbilisi, Georgia)
Primary Responsibilities:
- Assessment of the LEPL State Laboratory of Agriculture needs in terms of serological analysis of Salmonella by acknowledging SLA’s technical, material and personal capacity and reviewing Georgian legislations requirements for food safety control procedures, food sampling methodologies and food safety parameters related to Salmonella. After conclusion of assessment, sharing the developed needs assessment report with the SQIL and laboratory.
- Based on the needs assessment report, considering the technical, material and personal capacity of the SLA, selecting the analytical reference method of serological analysis of Salmonella, which will be in line with legislation requirements. Sharing the documentation of the methodology (including manuals, handouts, SOP, etc.) with SQIL and SLA
- Implementation of the selected reference method of serological analysis of Salmonella by providing technical expertise on:
- environment and premises of laboratory,
- identifying the standardized reference methods and describing in-house methods,
- ensuring the most up-to-date version to be used,
- equipment preparation and sample handling,
- validation in-house methods and ensuring standardized reference method to be fully followed to the letter,
- the process for the analytical calibration of the selected standards,
- replicability and accuracy control,
- acceptance/rejection criteria,
- validation of results,
- uncertainties,
- validation of software,
- reagent and material preparation,
- characteristics of operational steps,
- calibration, quality control (QC), and proficiency testing materials,
- reagent and material preparation;
- characteristics of operational steps;
- calibration, quality control (QC), and proficiency testing materials;
- interpretation and judgment.
- Conduct the training/workshop to provide the aspiring the SLA’s personal with the knowledge and understanding they need to perform their duties with skill and competence when performing the serological analysis of the Salmonella. In order to be in line with the workplan, online-mentorship meetings (based emails) one a month with participation of the SQIL staff.
- For implementation of the selected reference method and checking the on-going progress of the process through the conducting trainings/workshops for SLA laboratory personal, the international STTA will visit the laboratory 2-3 times during period of performance for 5 working day period.
The consultant will work in close coordination of SQIL technical staff. The consultant will be solely responsible for development of the requested materials/services. All other logistical issues including travel, organizing the workshop, printing and dissemination of materials, will be undertaken by the SQIL project.
Deliverables:
- Assessment of the LEPL State laboratory of Agriculture needs and capacity; Submit developed needs assessment report
- Select the analytical reference method of serological analysis of the Salmonella, provide developed manuals, handouts, SOP and other primary documents for the implementation process.
- Conduct trip 1 for sharing the developed needs assessment report and materials related to selected reference method.
- Implement the training/workshop of SLA personal on the selected reference method , provide training/workshop materials and sign in sheets of the attendance.
- Conduct trip 2 for supervision on the implementation process, examine the method performance accuracy and providing technical advices
- Develop final report
Required Skills and Qualifications:
- University degree in Biology or Microbiology
- Minimum 5 years experience serotyping Salmonella
- Minimum 2 years experience providing training or in education
