Food security is an issue of high importance for Sub-Saharan African countries. With the on-going process of regional integration, the promotion of regional trade between neighbouring countries is one strategy in a set of measures to enhance food security. Regional trade can contribute to food availability, accessibility and stability. To evaluate the potentials of regional trade to enhance food security a comprehensive tool is necessary which shall be transposable to different regional contexts. The study at hand introduces an Analytical Framework (AF) to meet this objective. The AF is implemented in a case study on cross-border trade between Tanzania and Zambia. Both countries are member states of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and are intensifying co-operation and liberalisation of trade. Although being generally food secure, Tanzania still faces regional and seasonal food shortages. Zambia’s food security policies are biased towards maize as major food staple. Zambia’s demand is reflected in maize as the dominating produce for agricultural exports of Tanzania towards Zambia: Quantities are influenced by the imposed export ban. Besides formal trade, the importance of informal cross-border trade with maize has increased. Trade is hampered by a number of non-tariff barriers, ranging from cost-intensive and time-consuming customs procedures to road blocks. Most of the non-tariff barriers are relevant for both, formal and informal trade. The assessment of the policy measures shows conflicts of interests between national food security on one side and agricultural trade liberalisation on the other side. The recommendations concentrate on measures to expand the involvement in bilateral trade. On policy level, the co-ordination and co-operation between Tanzania and Zambia within SADC should be strengthened.