Containing the spread of COVID-19 through food safety and quality standards

Abstract

This paper contends that the adoption of food safety and quality standards by small businesses and informal traders can assist in containing the spread of COVID-19. This is based on the hypothesis that small business owners and informal traders are aware of the benefits of food safety and quality standards and are thus willing to integrate them in their business operations. This hypothesis was tested via data collection in South Africa and Mozambique. The key research question was whether the adoption of food and safety standards by small businesses and informal traders can assist the containment of the spread of COVID-19. The paper has answered this question in the affirmative. It first highlights the benefits of standards and shows levels of awareness of food and safety standards by the small business owners and informal traders of South Africa and Mozambique. It concludes by discussing how the awareness of standards by small business owners can be used to integrate food safety and quality standards into the operations of small businesses and how this can promote the containment of the spread of COVID-19 while increasing the profitability and quality assurance among the small businesses and informal traders.