Topic ID No.: 2026-G15

Title of research topic:

Supplementary and therapeutic foods and sustainable and healthy food systems in South Africa

Description:

Supplementary and therapeutic foods and sustainable and healthy food systems in South Africa.

Target region or country (if applicable):

Topic is not yet linked to a specific country, but South Africa and/or Malawi are feasible options.

Topic background information / scientific relevance:

The supplementary and therapeutic foods (SATF), which are the ready-to-use supplementary and therapeutic foods, are often imported to South Africa to meet nutritional needs and/or emergency situations (ES), due to limited domestic production. Over 60,000 cartons of therapeutic food are needed annually, but only 10-16% are produced domestically, while none of the 100,000 cartons of supplementary foods needed annually are domestically produced. The reliance on these food imports is not sustainable due to the likelihood of shocks that might impact the supply chains, especially during the current devastating global crises. This adversely impacts the supplementary and therapeutic food security among municipalities and provinces in ES. Thesustainable and healthy food systems require the integration of the indigenous and local resources with technological and scientific know-how that will be subsumed in the domestic-oriented SATF value chains. However, the value chains must conform to the South African sanitary and phytosanitary laws, in line with Codex Alimentarius Guidelines, and the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority, to ensure food safety and utilisation. Thus, the development of a framework for a sustainable and healthy domestic-oriented SATF value chains using indigenous and local resources has become essential. The indigenous and local resources available for the production and processing of domestic SATF are yet to be assessed. Although the indigenous and neglected crops that are rich in nutrients are many and unambiguous, the crops that meet the nutritional standards of the supplementary and therapeutic foods production and their quantity are still an empirical issue.

Research objectives:

• Map and deep dive into the indigenous and local resources available for the domestic production and processing of supplementary and therapeutic foods.
• Design a framework for the domestic production and processing of the supplementary foods and upscaling of the therapeutic food system.
• Develop a value chain Information System (VACIS) for the South African supplementary and therapeutic food system data and research.
• Investigate the sustainability and healthy food system effects of the imported supplementary and therapeutic foods in South Africa.

Required skills and qualifications of the applicant:

This research area traverses extensive knowledge of food and nutrition security, sustainability, food safety regulations and data curation. It involves the ability to blend different research fields’ knowledge and methods. The ability to handle micro and macro data is required. Besides, inferential statistics, indepth data analytics, and qualitative analysis skills are required. Ability to use quantitative analysis software such as Stata, SPSS or R. In terms of qualifications, applicants with qualifications in agricultural economics, economics, nutrition, food science, agricultural science, statistics, supply chain management, data science or other related disciplines can apply.

Contact person and institute in charge:

Prof. Dr. Christine Wieck. University of Hohenheim. Department of Agricultural and Food Policy.

christine.wieck@uni-hohenheim.de