Evidence on charitable food assistance system’s compliance with safety and general hygiene requirements: A systematic scoping review

The charitable food assistance system has an influential role in the larger effort to curtail the problem of food insecurity globally. This review aimed at comparing evidence on the safety and general hygiene of the charitable food assistance system in Africa and the rest of the world. The search strategy involved electronic databases including African Index Medicus, PubMed, Google Scholar and EBSCOhost (MEDLINE with full text, Academic search complete, MEDLINE). We used a thematic analysis to identify the evidence on charitable food assistance programs’ degree of conformity with food safety and general hygiene requirements globally. Twenty-three articles met the inclusion criteria. The articles included evidence from the following high-income countries: United Arab Emirates; Nordic Region; Italy; United States; Hong Kong; Canada; Spain; Scotland; Singapore; Austria; Belgium; Wales and Northern Ireland. The following main themes emerged from the included studies: classification, challenges and barriers of the charitable food assistance system; cross-contamination of food and compliance with food hygiene and safety principles. Gaining a greater understanding of the factors affecting food safety and general hygiene compliance within charitable food assistance programs is important. The paucity of data on safety and general hygiene in the charitable food assistance programs globally, particularly in Africa was identified as one of the gaps that necessitates urgent action through primary research studies.