A review of Canadian and international food safety systems: Issues and recommendations for the future

In January 2019, the Safe Food for Canadians Act/Safe Food for Canadians regulations (heretofore identified as SFCR) came into force across Canada and brought a more streamlined process to food safety practice in Canada. Food trade and production processes have evolved rapidly in recent decades, as Canada imports and exports food products; therefore it is critically important to remain aware of the latest advances responding to a range of challenges and opportunities in the food safety value chain. Looking through the optics of the recent SFCR framework, this paper places the spotlight on leading domestic and international research and practices to help strengthen food safety policies of the future. By shedding some light on new research, we also draw attention to international developments that are noteworthy, and place those in context as to how new Canadian food safety policy and regulation can be further advanced. The paper will benchmark Canada through a review study of food safety best practices by juxtaposing (i) stated aspirations with, (ii) actual performance in leading Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) jurisdictions.     

未来食品的发展：植物蛋白肉与细胞培养肉

随着人们对健康、环保及美味食品追求,未来食品成为食品领域研究人员和民众广泛关注的话题。生物科学与食品技术的快速发展,越来越多的未来食品将走向人工合成制造的道路,成为今后很长一段时期内食品高技术发展的引导与驱动。合成生物学与食品科学技术在人造肉等未来食品定制化生产方面已经取得了一系列突破,并开始逐步实现商业化,成为现有传统农业与食品行业的有效补充和替代。作者以植物蛋白肉、细胞培养肉等典型的未来食品为例,通过分析其生物制造过程中的关键任务和主要挑战,综述合成生物学、组织工程、发酵工程等生物技术在未来食品中的应用,进一步展望了未来食品在生物制造中多学科交叉集成的前景。     

Food & meal decision making in lockdown: How and who has Covid-19 affected?

The Covid-19 lockdown resulted in all but essential shops closing in many countries, with inevitable and immediate impact on food availability and choice. Reasons for specific food choices influence diet and mealtimes and can affect psychological and physical well-being. The current study aimed first to investigate whether individuals and families in the UK have changed their food choice motivations over lockdown and second to identify sub-groups in particular need of support in the event of future lockdowns. Two hundred and forty adult participants from the UK completed an online survey, consisting of a series of demographic questions, the Food Choice Questionnaire, the Family Mealtime Goals Questionnaire and some short open-ended questions. They were asked to consider their goals and motivations around food and mealtimes at two timepoints: before lockdown and Summer 2020. Results indicated that the sample placed more importance on health, weight control and mood when choosing their food after lockdown than they had before, and less importance on familiarity. A number of sub-groups were identified who may be particularly vulnerable to food-related challenges in future lockdowns including younger adults, parents and carers of children, those self-isolating and individuals who do not live within close proximity to food shops. These results are preliminary and larger sub-group sample sizes will be necessary to draw firm conclusions. Future research should consider the nature and impact of these challenges in more detail across a more varied population.     

Biomimetic plant foods: Structural design and functionality

BackgroundThe rising number of people living with chronic conditions, such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease, along with the widespread demand for healthier foods have posed significant challenges to the food industry. Plant-based foods, beyond simple nutrition, can provide health-benefiting functionalities within the complex environment of the human gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Biomimetics is defined as taking inspirations from nature to solve problems. Biomimetic plant foods (BPFs) can offer solutions for the future with the design of nature-inspired food structures for improved health and well-being.Scope and approachThis review provides an insight into the assembly of plant food structures and their disassembly in the human GI tract. Their role in controlling the digestive fate of nutrients is elucidated. Recent developments and future perspectives on designing BPFs are also presented and discussed.Key findings and conclusionsPlant foods in nature possess hierarchically self-assembled structures. During processing and GI digestion, these structures are disassembled to enable liberation and assimilation of nutrients and bioactive molecules contained within the food matrix. The assembly and disassembly are linked to a hierarchy of structure in plants within which different levels (molecule, polymer, cell wall, cell, tissue, organ) and their interactions can modulate nutrient bioaccessibility and digestion. Inspired by nature, BPFs can be engineered to deliver in-body functionality. The emerging trend of biomimetics will potentially pave the way for the future of food.     

Healthy and sustainable diets for future generations

Global food systems will face unprecedented challenges in the coming years. They will need to meet the nutritional needs of a growing population and feed an expanding demand for proteins. This is against a backdrop of increasing environmental challenges (water resources, climate change, soil health) and the need to improve farming livelihoods. Collaborative efforts by a variety of stakeholders are needed to ensure that future generations have access to healthy and sustainable diets. Food will play an increasingly important role in the global discourse on health. These topics were explored during Nestlé's second international conference on ‘Planting Seeds for the Future of Food: The Agriculture, Nutrition and Sustainability Nexus’, which took place in July 2017. This article discusses some of the key issues from the perspective of three major stakeholder groups, namely farming/agriculture, the food industry and consumers. © 2018 The Authors. Journal of The Science of Food and Agriculture published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.     

Cannabis-infused food and Canadian consumers’ willingness to consider “recreational” cannabis as a food ingredient

At the time of this study, the Canadian government intends to legalize the use of recreational cannabis. Despite its intentions, the regulatory framework remains ambiguous. Food businesses, with their constant search for growth, are considering launching several food products with cannabis as an ingredient, once the drug is legalized. This study does not look at the health effects of cannabis per se, but rather consumers’ perception of cannabis as a food ingredient through the lens of food innovation, if it were to be legalized. It explores several dimensions, including cannabis-infused food products sold in grocery stores and dishes served at restaurants. It evaluates potential times when consumers would consume these products, in addition to their preferred food products. The survey also looks at perceived risks related to specific demographics such as children and pregnant women. The survey assesses both perceived risks and anticipated behaviour in a market in which a former illicit product becomes readily available.The results show that Canadians, although mostly favourable to cannabis's legalization and willing to try cannabis-infused food products, are concerned about health risks the drug represents, especially for young children. Results also suggest that most Canadians do not feel knowledgeable enough to cook with cannabis at home, which opens an opportunity for leaders in the industry. Finally, the study presents limitations and suggested future paths for research.     

Residue Control in the European Union,the Present and Future Challenges: Experiences From the Netherlands

Residue control in the European Union has the primary goal to protect consumers from intolerable health hazards which may be associated with residues of veterinary drugs or non-licensed or forbidden substances in animal products. The present situation regarding residue control in the EU is discussed. In the near future Directive 96/23 will be revised and residue monitoring will become more risk based, which will present challenges to laboratories. What are the new risks (compounds), and how can these be effectively identified and controlled? Techniques and matrices will change in the coming years to accommodate this new monitoring system.     

科·汉森的健康事业——访科·汉森公司CEO Lars Frederikson

<正> 金秋季节,科·汉森公司亚太区年度会议在风景如画的香山饭店举行,此次会议是科·汉森比较重要的会议,来自丹麦总部和本区域的管理层出席了会议,本刊记者采访了公司 CEO LarsFrederikson 先生,倾听其对科·汉森在中国市场的现状及未来发展的描述。     

The impact of pre‐ and/or probiotics on human colonic metabolism: Does it affect human health?

Since many years, the role of the colonic microbiota in maintaining the host's overall health and well-being has been recognized. Dietary modulation of the microbiota composition and activity has been achieved by the use of pre-, pro- and synbiotics. In this review, we will summarize the available evidence on the modification of bacterial metabolism by dietary intervention with pre-, pro- and synbiotics. Enhanced production of SCFA as a marker of increased saccharolytic fermentation is well documented in animal and in vitro studies. Decreased production of potentially toxic protein fermentation metabolites, such as sulfides, phenolic and indolic compounds, has been less frequently demonstrated. Besides, pre-, pro- and synbiotics also affect other metabolic pathways such as the deconjugation of secondary bile acids, bacterial enzyme activities and mineral absorption. Data from human studies are less conclusive. The emergence of new analytical techniques such as metabolite profiling has revealed new pathways affected by dietary intervention. However, an important challenge for current and future research is to relate changes in bacterial metabolism to concrete health benefits. Potential targets and expected benefits have been identified: reduced risk for the metabolic syndrome and prevention of colorectal cancer.     

Planting seeds for the future of food

The health and wellbeing of future generations will depend on humankind's ability to deliver sufficient nutritious food to a world population in excess of 9 billion. Feeding this many people by 2050 will require science‐based solutions that address sustainable agricultural productivity and enable healthful dietary patterns in a more globally equitable way. This topic was the focus of a multi‐disciplinary international conference hosted by Nestlé in June 2015, and provides the inspiration for the present article. The conference brought together a diverse range of expertise and organisations from the developing and industrialised world, all with a common interest in safeguarding the future of food. This article provides a snapshot of three of the recurring topics that were discussed during this conference: soil health, plant science and the future of farming practice. Crop plants and their cultivation are the fundamental building blocks for a food secure world. Whether these are grown for food or feed for livestock, they are the foundation of food and nutrient security. Many of the challenges for the future of food will be faced where the crops are grown: on the farm. Farmers need to plant the right crops and create the right conditions to maximise productivity (yield) and quality (e.g. nutritional content), whilst maintaining the environment, and earning a living. New advances in science and technology can provide the tools and know‐how that will, together with a more entrepreneurial approach, help farmers to meet the inexorable demand for the sustainable production of nutritious foods for future generations. © 2015 The Authors. Journal of The Science of Food and Agriculture published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.     

Five dimensions of cleansing: A holistic view on the facets and importance of skin cleansing

Cleansing is an important human ritual practised for hygiene, well-being and relaxation over centuries. As part of body care it is often taken for granted, yet its relevance cannot be underestimated. Although cleansing the skin may seem trivial to some, it is accepted, that this fundamental function of skin cleansing products is highly complex, diverse and crucial for a variety of reasons in the personal, public, healthcare and dermatological settings. Employing a comprehensive and strategic approach in viewing cleansing and its rituals, supports innovation, understanding and development. Apart from being a fundamental function, as far as we know, there is no comprehensive presentation of skin cleansing with all its effects besides ‘removing dirt’. To our knowledge, comprehensive analyses on the multi-dimensional facets of skin cleansing are either rare or not published. Against this background, we examine the importance of cleansing in terms of function, relevance and concepts. First, the key functions and efficacies of skin cleansing were investigated by literature research. Based on this survey, the functions were analysed, sorted and merged and a novel approach to skin cleansing ‘dimensions’ was developed. Herewith, we took into consideration the evolution of skin cleansing in terms of concept evolution, complexity and testing methods for cleansing products and their claims. Several multi-dimensional functions of skin cleansing were identified and then established into five skin cleansing dimensions, namely: hygienic and medical importance; socio-cultural and interpersonal relevance; mood, emotion and well-being; cosmetic and aesthetic function; corneobiological interactions. It became obvious, that these five dimensions with their corresponding 11 sub-dimensions, are influenced by each other throughout history by culture and society, technical progress, scientific knowledge and consumer trends. This article presents the enormous complexity of skin cleansing. Skin cleansing has evolved from basic care up to a highly complex and diverse cosmetic product category in terms of technology, efficacy and usage routine(s). In view of future challenges, such as the effects of climate and associated lifestyle changes, the development of skin cleansing will remain an exciting and important topic and thus will finally, again, further increase the complexity of skin cleansing itself.     

Quantifying and mapping ecosystem services supplies and demands: a review of remote sensing applications

Ecosystems provide services necessary for the livelihoods and well-being of people. Quantifying and mapping supplies and demands of ecosystem services is essential for continuous monitoring of such services to support decision-making. Area-wide and spatially explicit mapping of ecosystem services based on extensive ground surveys is restricted to local scales and limited due to high costs. In contrast, remote sensing provides reliable area-wide data for quantifying and mapping ecosystem services at comparatively low costs, and with the option of fast, frequent, and continuous observations for monitoring. In this paper, we review relevant remote sensing systems, sensor types, and methods applicable in quantifying selected provisioning and regulatory services. Furthermore, opportunities, challenges, and future prospects in using remote sensing for supporting ecosystem services' quantification and mapping are discussed.     

Prebiotics: Present and future in food science and technology

Because of its resident microbiota, the human colon is one of the body’s most metabolically active organs. The use of diet to fortify certain gut flora components is a popular current aspect of functional food sciences and prebiotics have a significant role. Prebiotics are selectively fermented ingredients that allow specific changes, both in the composition and/or activity in the gastrointestinal microbiota that confers benefits upon host well-being and health. Improved techniques for analysis of the gut microflora, new food manufacturing biotechnologies, and increased understanding of the metabolism of prebiotic inulin and oligosaccharides by probiotics are facilitating development. Such developments are leading us to the time when we will be able to rationally develop prebiotics for specific functional properties and health outcomes. Thus, this review will focus on the progress of prebiotics in food science and technology in understanding the important role of prebiotics in health, beginning at the rationale of gut microflora and interactions with prebiotics. Furthermore, the classification criteria, food applications and safety assessment of prebiotics as food ingredient is also discussed.     

中国保健食品现状和发展趋势

保健食品在我国历史悠久,随着经济的发展和健康要求的提高,保健食品行业遇到了前所未有的机遇和挑战。本文对新中国成立后保健食品的发展历程进行了阶段划分,分析了我国保健食品行业现状特征、存在的问题以及未来的发展趋势,指出创新是保健食品产业未来发展的核心动力。     

A 100-Year Review: Regulation of nutrient partitioning to support lactation

We have seen remarkable advances in animal productivity in the last 75 years, with annual milk yield per cow increasing over 4-fold and no evidence of nearing a plateau. Because of these gains in productive efficiency, there have been dramatic reductions in resource inputs and the carbon footprint per unit of milk produced. The primary source for the historic gains relates to animal variation in nutrient partitioning. The regulation of nutrient use for productive functions has the overall goal of maintaining the cow's well-being regardless of the physiological or environmental challenges. From a conceptual standpoint, it involves both acute homeostatic controls operating on a minute-by-minute basis and chronic homeorhetic controls operating on a long-term basis to provide orchestrated adaptations that coordinate tissues and body processes. This endocrine regulation is mediated by changes in circulating anabolic and catabolic hormones, hormone membrane receptors and intracellular signaling pathways. The coordination of tissues and physiological systems includes a plethora of hormones, but insulin and somatotropin are 2 key regulators of nutrient trafficking. Herein, we review the advances in our understanding of both conceptual and actual regulation of nutrient partitioning in support of milk synthesis and identify examples of the challenges and future opportunities in dairy science.     

Emerging foodborne pathogens

The broad spectrum of foodborne infections has changed dramatically over time, as well-established pathogens have been controlled or eliminated, and new ones have emerged. The burden of foodborne disease remains substantial: one in four Americans is estimated to have a significant foodborne illness each year. The majority of these illnesses are not accounted for by known pathogens, so more must remain to be discovered. Among the known foodborne pathogens, those more recently identified predominate, suggesting that as more and more is learned about pathogens, they come under control. In addition to the emergence or recognition of new pathogens, other trends include global pandemics of some foodborne pathogens, the emergence of antimicrobial resistance, the identification of pathogens that are highly opportunistic, affecting only the most high-risk subpopulations, and the increasing identification of large and dispersed outbreaks. New pathogens can emerge because of changing ecology or changing technology that connects a potential pathogen with the food chain. They also can emerge de novo by transfer of mobile virulence factors, often through bacteriophage. Though this is rarely observed, it can be reconstructed. Better understanding of the ecology and dynamics of phage transmission among bacteria will help us to understand the appearance of new pathogens in the future. One may look for emerging foodborne pathogens among the silent zoonoses, and among the severe infections affecting the immunocompromised humans. We should expect the unexpected. In the past, separating human sewage and animal manure from human food and water supplies was critical to improving public health. Now, our health depends increasingly on the safety of the feed and water supplies for the animals themselves. The successes of the 20th century and the new challenges we face mean that public health vigilance, careful investigation of new problems, responsible attention to food safety from farm to table, and partnerships to bring about new foodborne disease control measures will be needed for the foreseeable future.     

Dairy probiotics: Beyond the role of promoting gut and immune health

Today the importance of the so-called health-promoting bacteria or probiotics has been well established. Many of these probiotics are being delivered through fermented food products, of which dairy foods are among the most important carriers. The purpose of this report is to review some of the newer applications of probiotics that are situated far beyond the maintenance of gut health and which are currently being studied intensively on a laboratory scale, but have the potential to make it to the market in the future. We will discuss the current research status for applications in the fields of metabolic syndrome (obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, etc.), psychotropic activity through the gut-brain axis, anti-mutagenic or anti-cancerous mechanisms and oral health. Finally, we will briefly review studies on a future generation of probiotics based on genetically modified strains that will deliver therapeutic molecules to the host.     

Climate change and seafood safety: Human health implications

Worldwide, anthropogenic climate change is now a reality and is already affecting the biology and ecology of some organisms, as well as several chemical pathways. Little is known about the consequences of climate change for the food system, particularly seafood, comprising all stages from ‘‘farm to fork” (mainly primary production, processing, transport and trading). In this context, the current review aims to elucidate climate change impacts on seafood safety and its human health implications. Both chemical and biological risks are foreseen to impair seafood safety in the future as a consequence of climate change; in particular, toxic metals, organic chemicals residues, algal toxins and pathogens of both humans and marine organisms. However, different species respond differently to such stresses. Public health authorities will face new challenges to guarantee seafood safety and to sustain consumers’ confidence in eating seafood in a warmer world.     

Emerging microbiological food safety issues related to meat

Avian influenza viruses and antibiotic-resistant pathogens have become topics of current public health interest. This paper will focus on the significance of these pathogens to the meat industry as well as other emerging microbiological food safety topics likely to impact the meat industry. These include surveillance of foodborne pathogens, microbial source tracking, risk assessment, and human populations at increased risk of infection by foodborne microbes. These emerging issues will likely lead to even greater challenges to producing microbiologically safe meat products than the industry has ever experienced. However, accompanying such challenges will be innovative solutions that provide even greater public health protection to meat-containing foods.     

The future in sensory/consumer research: ……….....evolving to a better science

I present eleven predictions of future changes in sensory and consumer research, dividing them according to the criticality of change and the timing of change. The changes which the field must have are more emphasis on: health and wellness, global products and methods, age (life transitions), measuring beyond liking, move beyond the laboratory, and the use of representative subjects. Together these trends will define whether sensory and consumer research successfully moves into the future to predict consumer decisions based on more representative people and places, using more representative measures of consumer behavior, and addressing the most important central topic of our day, health. Health as a main focus of research and application is already here and will continue to grow, as will a more global perspective. Moving beyond the laboratory and using more representative consumers are further ahead of us, and might take ten years to develop.Of less importance than the above topics, but still of importance are topics which we need in the future, but they are not as critical as the must-haves. These methodological predictions include: increased use of internet research, trained and consumer panels, and the greater consideration of ritual and habit. These are probably closer to 10 years away before widespread use. In the mid-term is further growth in the number of people in sensory and consumer tests.I have categorized one future issue as nice to have but neither critical nor imminent. Perhaps in the future we will have less research arguing which scale is best, and more research trying to apply scales in the most appropriate manner.