Uncovering the cause of a major food safety incident by the application of analytical chemistry

Christopher Elliott (Queen’s University Belfast)

In 2019 a major crisis in the World Food Programme developed with multiple illnesses and deaths attributed to food aid in Uganda. A multi-agency approach was instigated and Professor Elliott was asked to become an independent scientific expert to investigate the causes of the outbreak. Using a wide range of analytical tools the causes were identified and also that a second outbreak in a Somali refugee camp in Uganda was found linked to the first outbreak and involved fraud. An overview of the Uganda case will be presented.