Safi Pasteurization Controller

Safi International Technologies

Safi Pasteurization Controller

The world's first off-the-grid pasteurization control unit for smallholder farmers

Toronto, ON, Canada

CAN

For-profit, including B-Corp or similar models

East Africa has the highest global incidence of milk-borne diseases with 30% of the deaths in children under 5. The core issue is that approximately 90% of East African milk is sold by small-scale sellers in informal, unregulated markets, costing upwards of 56 million dollars a year in healthcare. The challenges of the current supply chain are burdened by many factors but most importantly the lack of adequate traceability and tools to ensure safety. Pasteurization would destroy these harmful pathogens, however, existing solutions simply don’t work for small-scale milk sellers. They are too large and expensive for individual use, rely on power sources they do not have access to, and require industrial-level training to operate. This is resulting in individuals drinking their milk raw, or boiling it which can strip over 30% of milk's nutrients. This also presents a problem to regulators who lack tracking/insight into millions of litres sold within the informal market. They are unable to track down bad quality milk, and regulate farmers at the small-holder level - leading to milk-borne diseases, and high DALY and mortality rates.

Safi is a social enterprise creating the tools for a safe and transparent dairy supply chain in East Africa. We have patented the world's first off-the-grid pasteurization control unit that allows any user - primarily rural dairy farmers - to pasteurize their milk without the use of on-the-grid electricity. It is affordable, powered by renewable energy sources, and allows farmers to easily pasteurize their differentiating daily yields. Additionally, at the core of the product is a digital tracking system that remotely records key pasteurization data. This data is available for farmers through the Safi app so that they can monitor their production and sales and streamline their processes. The data is then stored in Safi’s cloud and provided to regulators and governments through Safi’s dashboard to provide transparent data about local dairy supply chains. The mission of Safi is three-fold: to provide safe drinking milk, especially to children and pregnant women who rely on it for its essential nutrients to help farmers rise out of poverty through the increased revenues from selling pasteurized milk and to assist East African governments regulate the dairy supply chain with the use of transparent data.

There are two groups that are affected by this problem; farmers and regulatory bodies. Farmers lack the tools to produce safe milk in the informal market, and are unable to gain the additional value from selling processed dairy. As such, they are forced to sell raw dairy at a discount to aggregators/collection centers, or sell raw/untested milk directly to customers, with farmers usually opting for the latter option. This presents a problem to regulators who lack tracking/insight into millions of litres sold within the informal market. They are unable to track down bad quality milk, and regulate farmers at the small-holder level. The Safi device empowers farmers to pasteurize milk at the source, enabling them to meet legal standards and sell milk at approximately a 58% premium. This added value stays with the farmers, rather than being captured further down the supply chain. In our pilots, farmers reported being able to send their children to school and reinvest in their farms with the extra income - quite literally life-changing! For regulators, Safi offers critical data visibility, allowing them to track compliance and quality across the informal market, therefore creating shared value for both farmers and governments.