Climate change and food safety: A review

Climate change and variability may have an impact on the occurrence of food safety hazards at various stages of the food chain, from primary production through to consumption. There are multiple pathways through which climate related factors may impact food safety including: changes in temperature and precipitation patterns, increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, ocean warming and acidification, and changes in contaminants’ transport pathways among others. Climate change may also affect socio-economic aspects related to food systems such as agriculture, animal production, global trade, demographics and human behaviour which all influence food safety.This paper reviews the potential impacts of predicted changes in climate on food contamination and food safety at various stages of the food chain and identifies adaptation strategies and research priorities to address food safety implications of climate change. The paper concludes that there is a need for intersectoral and international cooperation to better understand the changing food safety situation and in developing and implementing adaptation strategies to address emerging risks associated with climate change.     

Harmonization of legislation and regulations to achieve food safety: US and Canada perspective

Trade in food and food ingredients among the nations of the world is rapidly expanding and, with this expansion, new supply chain partners, from globally disparate geographic regions, are being enrolled. Food and food ingredients are progressively sourced more from lesser developed nations. Food safety incidents in the USA and Canada show a high unfavorable correlation between illness outbreaks and imported foods. In the USA, for example, foodborne disease outbreaks caused by imported food appeared to rise in 2009 and 2010, and nearly half of the outbreaks, associated with imported food, implicated foods imported from areas which previously had not been associated with outbreaks. Projecting supply chains into new geographical regions raises serious questions about the capacity of the new supply chain partners to provide the requisite regulatory framework and sufficiently robust public health measures for ensuring the safety of the foods and foodstuffs offered for international trade. The laws, regulation and legislation among the many nations participating in the global food trade are, at best, inconsistent. These inconsistencies frequently give rise to trade disputes and cause large quantities of food to be at risk of destruction on the often dubious pretext that they are not safe. Food safety is often viewed through a political or normative lens. Often as not, this lens has been wrought absent scientific precision. Harmonization of food safety legislation around sound scientific principles, as advocated by the US Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), would ultimately promote trade and likely provide for incremental improvement in public health. Among the priority roles of most national governments are the advancement of commerce and trade, preservation of public health and ensuring domestic tranquility. Achieving these priorities is fundamental to creating and preserving the wealth of nations. Countries such as the Netherlands, Canada, Germany, Japan and the USA, for example, have very stable governments, are leaders in trade and commerce and enjoy high standards of public health. It is not by accident or coincidence that these nations are also among the world's wealthiest. Attainment of national priorities, especially those related to promoting trade in foodstuffs and also in preserving public health (food safety), would benefit greatly from international efforts in harmonizing food safety regulations and legislation. © 2013 Society of Chemical Industry     

供应链视角下我国突发食品安全事件风险评价

目的:分析我国食品供应各环节食品安全风险的大小,为今后制定突发食品安全事件应急管理策略提供理论基础和技术支持。方法:基于突变理论模型,构建突发食品安全事件风险评价指标体系,对我国2005—2014年间的食品安全风险进行综合评价。结果:总体而言,近10年我国食品安全风险呈缓慢下降趋势,但是从食品供应的3个具体环节来看,风险一直呈现波动趋势,特别是农产品生产和食品生产消费这2个环节,近2年来食品安全风险呈现增长态势。结论:完善食品安全法律法规体系和食品安全监管体系,推动农业分散经营模式向规模化生产模式转变,建立食品安全强制责任保险制度。     

Meat Safety in the Climate Change Context

Climate change is a global phenomenon in the 21^st century which may have impact on the occurrence of meatborne hazards at multiple points in the meat chain continuum, from the primary production through to consumption. The assurance of meat safety is a complex task, which requires strong inter-sectoral cooperation between relevant stakeholders such as Competent Authority, Academia, Food Industry and Consumers. The emerging food safety risks due to climate change may pose a serious challenge to the meat safety control system. Therefore, a better understanding of anticipated changes would be of the utmost importance for governments to ensure preparedness.     

Is Food Safety Compatible with Food Waste Prevention and Sustainability of the Food Chain?

In a context where the sustainability of food chains and food waste prevention are subjects of interest for public authorities and professionals, it is important to assess if these new objectives of food policy are compatible with food safety. The objective of this work was to develop a global model for a ready-to-eat meat product that provides three different outputs, i.e. energy consumption, percentage of spoiled products and exposure levels of Listeria monocytogenes. First a cold chain model was developed. The cold chain model was then coupled with (i) predictive microbiology models and (ii) energy consumption models for cold equipments. Various scenarios were tested for assessing the consequences of potential changes in cold chain equipment on safety, food waste and energy cost. This global approach could help policy makers in decision making.     

New directions in foodborne disease prevention

Food safety is an important part of public health linking health to agriculture and other food production sectors. For over a century, developments in food production and new control philosophies have contributed to food safety systems in most developed countries perceived by many to be efficient in the prevention of foodborne disease. Nevertheless, a number of problems still remain dominant, one of these being the high level of foodborne microbiological diseases which seem, for some pathogens, to have increased over the last decades. Although there is an urgent need for better foodborne disease data in most countries, the paper attempts an analysis of the background to these problems using available data to illustrate the developments for some of the major foodborne pathogens. Some of the shortcomings of present food safety systems are discussed, as are new principles to improve food safety strategies. A new paradigm for the integration of research data, food-control monitoring, epidemiological investigations and disease surveillance in a renewed effort to manage and lower foodborne risk is presented. Within this paradigm, the development of an interdisciplinary approach with direct interaction between surveillance and risk analysis systems is described as a potential basis for improved foodborne disease prevention. Specific consideration is given to the situation in developing countries, suggesting a leap forward past the experience of noncollaboration between the disciplines in many developed countries. Today, food safety is one of WHO's top 11 priorities and the Organisation calls for more systematic and aggressive steps to be taken to significantly reduce the risk of microbiological foodborne diseases. Dealing with this challenge is one of the major challenges for the 21st century in regard to food safety, implying a significant redirection of food microbiology efforts in many parts of the world.     

快速检测技术在果蔬安全控制中的研究进展

近年来人们对果蔬及其产品的需求逐渐增加,随着生产、加工、销售规模的不断扩大,其产生的食品安全问题成为了人们普遍关注的焦点之一。本文阐述了果蔬在生产、流通等各环节中主要安全风险的来源,包括有机磷和氨基甲酸酯类农药残留、硝酸盐及亚硝酸盐等无机化合物超标、果蔬中有害微生物污染、病原菌毒素积累等,并对果蔬安全检测中快速检测技术(快检技术)的研究进展进行了综述,包括酶抑制法、酶联免疫法、传感器法、拉曼光谱检测法、试纸法、聚合酶链式反应法等。快检技术推进了果蔬安全检测的规范化和标准化,成为执法监管的重要依托,促进了果蔬产业安全持续的发展。     

The role of smart packaging system in food supply chain

Food supply chain is a rapidly growing integrated sector and covers all the aspects from farm to fork, including manufacturing, packaging, distribution, storing, as well as further processing or cooking for consumption. Along this chain, smart packaging could impact the quality, safety, and sustainability of food. Packaging systems have evolved to be smarter with integration of emerging electronics and wireless communication and cloud data solutions. Although there are many factors causing the loss and waste issues for foods throughout the whole supply chain of food and there have been several articles showing the recent advances and breakthroughs in developing smart packaging systems, this review integrates these conceptual frameworks and technological applications and focuses on how innovative smart packaging solutions are beneficial to the overall quality and safety of food supply by enhancing product traceability and reducing the amount of food loss and waste. We start by introducing the concept of the management for the integrated food supply chain, which is critical in tactical and operational components that can enhance product traceability within the entire chain. Then we highlight the impact of smart packaging in reducing food loss and waste. We summarize the basic information of the common printing techniques for smart packaging system (sensor and indicator). Then, we discuss the potential challenges in the manufacturing and deployment of smart packaging systems, as well as their cost-related drawbacks and further steps in food supply chain.     

食品链质量安全追溯体系的建立

2015年实施新修订的《食品安全法》中第42条规定:"国家应建立食品安全全程追溯制度"。随着食品工业化的发展和消费者对食品安全要求的提高,建立食品全程追溯系统,对于不安全食品的召回以及查找食品链中的不安全问题点将起到非常重大作用,已成为食品安全保障工作的重要措施。根据追溯涉及到的食品供应链组织,可以将追溯划分为内部追溯和外部追溯。食品链中食品生产加工环节的追溯就属于内部追溯,目前我国较多食品企业尚未建立完整的食品安全管理体系且自动化程度较低,另外我国食品企业生产的食品种类繁多,缺少指导性文件导致内部追溯存在较大的困难。本文对食品生产加工环节追溯的现状与发展进行概述,建议通过健全同类产品追溯系统以及提高食品企业自动化程度建立完善的企业内部追溯系统,以更好地保障食品安全工作。     

Danish initiatives to improve the safety of meat products

During the last two decades the major food safety problems in Denmark, as determined by the number of human patients, has been associated with bacterial infections stemming from meat products and eggs. The bacterial pathogens causing the majority of human infections has been Salmonella and Campylobacter, and to a lesser extent Yersinia, Escherichiacoli O157 and Listeria. Danish initiatives to improve the safety of meat products have focused on the entire production chain from the farm to the consumer, with a special emphasis on the pre-harvest stage of production. The control of bacterial pathogens which are resistant to antibiotics has been a new area of attention in the recent decade, and recently, the increasing globalization of the domestic food supply has called for a complete rethinking of the national food safety strategies. The implementations of a “case-by-case” risk assessment system, as well as increased international collaboration on surveillance, are both elements in this new strategy.     

Good nutritional practice from producer to consumer

Today we manage food safety through good practices at different levels of food production, distribution, and consumption. The paper analyses current good practices, parameters involved in the food safety circle along the food supply chain, and consumer dilemmas. As a result of the current situation the new approach called "Good Nutritional Practice" (GNP) is proposed to balance the food safety systems. It is shown how important it is to integrate actual the food safety solutions within GNP, which includes consumers, and is based on a model that covers subsystems from other relevant good practices (nine good practices along the food supply chain). It has been shown that present maintenance of food safety in the food supply chain can be easily broken down, because of the different kinds of barriers or a simple misunderstanding among stakeholders including consumers.     

Simulation modelling and risk assessment as tools to identify the impact of climate change on microbiological food safety – The case study of fresh produce supply chain

The current quality assurance and control tools and methods to prevent and/or to control microbiological risks associated with fresh produce are challenged due to the following pressures upon the food supply chain, i.e. changing consumption patterns, globalization and climate change. It demonstrates the need for scientific research and development of new and/or improved tools, techniques and practices to adapt the current risk management systems. In this paper, a conceptual research approach is presented to analyse the complexity of the climate change and globalization challenge on the fresh produce supply chain taken as a case study. The factors which affect the vulnerability of the fresh produce chain demand a multidisciplinary research approach. The proposed knowledge-based modelling system is believed to be a most appropriate way to identify problems and to offer solutions to monitor and prevent microbiological food safety risks during all phases of food production and supply. To explore the potential impact of climate change and globalization, baseline information can be obtained by surveillance and performance measurement of implemented food safety management systems. Simulation of climate change scenarios and the logistic chain of fresh produce, along with mathematical models to optimize packaging technology to maintain quality and safety of fresh produce are tools to provide insights in the complex dynamic ecosystem. They are the basis for elaboration of risk assessment studies to scientifically support management options and decisions to new microbiological threats related to globalization and climate change in the fresh produce supply chain. This research concept as such will contribute to develop strategies in order to guarantee the (microbiological) food safety of fresh produce on the long term.     

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.     

Innovations in low input and organic dairy supply chains—What is acceptable in Europe?

The growth in organic and low-input farming practices is driven by both market demand for high quality, safe food, and European Union policy support, and these types of farming practices are considered in European Union policies for sustainable production, food quality, healthy life, and rural development. However, many constraints to the development of low-input and organic dairy farming supply chains have been identified, including economic, political, and technical constraints. In order for these types of supply chains to develop and provide further benefits to society, innovations are required to improve their sustainability. However, an innovation will only be taken up and result in desirable change if the whole supply chain accepts the innovation. In this paper, Q methodology is used to identify the acceptability of dairy supply chain innovations to low-input and organic supply chain members and consumers in Belgium, Finland, Italy, and the United Kingdom. A strong consensus existed across all respondents on innovations that were deemed as unacceptable. The use of genetically modified and transgenic organisms in the farming system and innovations perceived as conflicting with the naturalness of the production system and products were strongly rejected. Innovations that were strongly liked across all participants in the study were those related to improving animal welfare and improving forage quality to be able to reduce the need for purchased concentrate feeds. Only minor differences existed between countries as to where the priorities lay in terms of innovation acceptability.     

Evaluation of the safety assurance level for Salmonella spp. throughout the food production chain in Switzerland

In Switzerland. the safeguarding of food is the responsibility of industry, organizations, and governmental authorities. The dispersion of the tasks and the diversity of implemented safety measures among involved stakeholders do not allow a general overview of the national safety assurance level provided. A comprehensive evaluation of the level of safety assurance provided for foodborne pathogens such as Salmonella spp. is therefore lacking, and the prevalence of Salmonella spp. at various points in the food production chain is not known. The objectives of this study were to (i) collect data on safety measures implemented throughout the food production chain in Switzerland regarding Salmonella spp.; (ii) evaluate the safety assurance level for Salmonella spp. at each step of the production chain for chicken meat, pork, beef, and milk and dairy products (bovine origin); and (iii) gather data on the prevalence of the pathogen at each step. Data on implemented safety assurance measures for Salmonella spp. were gathered from the various stakeholders in the food production chain. The data were analyzed by a semiquantitative method that considered the quality and relevance of the implemented safety measures for Salmonella spp. The safety assurance level for Salmonella spp. was evaluated from "no safety assurance" to "very good safety assurance." Available results of testing for Salmonella spp. from 1998 to 2000 were used for calculating the prevalence of the pathogen throughout the food production chain. The results showed a varying safety assurance level for Salmonella spp. throughout the food production chain. Strengths (e.g., feed production for chickens) and weaknesses (e.g., pork production) were observed. These results serve as a basis for a rational optimization of the system.     

Organizational unlearning: A risky food safety strategy?

Strategically unlearning specific knowledge, behaviors, and practices facilitates product and process innovation, business model evolution, and new market opportunities and is essential to meet emergent supply chain and customer requirements. Indeed, addressing societal concerns such as climate change and net zero means elements of contemporary practice in food supply chains need to be unlearned to ensure new practices are adopted. However, unlearning is a risky process if crucial knowledge is lost, for example, if knowledge is situated in the supply base not the organization itself, or there is insufficient organizational food safety knowledge generation, curation, and management when new practices/processes are designed and implemented. An exploratory, critical review of management and food safety academic and gray literature is undertaken that aims to consider the cycle of unlearning, learning, and relearning in food organizations and supply chains with particular emphasis on organizational innovation, inertia, and the impact on food safety management systems and food safety performance. Findings demonstrate it is critical with food safety practices, such as duration date coding or refrigeration practices, that organizations “unlearn” in a way that does not increase organizational, food safety, or public health risk. This paper contributes to extant literature by highlighting the organizational vulnerabilities that can arise when strategically unlearning to promote sustainability in a food supply context. Mitigating such organizational, food safety, and public health risk means organizations must simultaneously drive unlearning, learning, and relearning as a dynamic integrated knowledge acquisition and management approach. The research implications are of value to academics, business managers, and wider industry.     

Aptamer and Its Potential Applications for Food Safety

Accompanied by industrial globalization, rapid urbanization, and population increment, mass production and staple trading for food consumption are upsoaring continuously, foodborne disease resulted from various food safety issues is currently a crucial public health concern worldwide, which has not only created a great burden on both economy and society, but also greatly threatened the sustainability of mankind's livelihood and human reproduction. In order to better ensure food safety and thus effectively curb the occurrence of foodborne diseases, the development and evolving of inspection strategies are indispensable measures for quality assurance and conformity assessment. Nowadays, as complementary measures to and with advantageous merits over classic analytical methods, highly specific and selective aptamer-based assays have found their increasingly important roles in various domains of food analysis. This critical review summarizes the advantages of aptamer as compared with antibody, introduces important evolving variants of systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment (SELEX), and presents an overview of potential aptamer applications for food safety.     

How circular will you eat? The sustainability challenge in food and consumer reaction to either waste-to-value or yet underused novel ingredients in food

In the light of the sustainability challenge ahead, the food sector has to become more resource efficient. This includes moving towards a circularity approach in which by-products from production side-streams are re-inserted into the food chain. However, it is unclear how consumers react to food products based on ingredients previously wasted in the supply chain, or innovative food ingredients from yet underused production streams. The current study uses an experimental survey design to assess consumer attitude towards a plant-based cocoa drink among 491 Danish consumers of cocoa-flavoured drinks. In a between-subjects design, the product is first, either from the market leader in plant-based drinks or from an unfamiliar, non-Danish brand, second, contains either potato or grass protein, and third, is presented with or without communication on the sustainability benefit. The benefit consists of potato protein being from by-products previously wasted, and grass protein an innovative ingredient yet underused for food purpose. Attitude towards the new product is assessed relative to a soy based cocoa drink of the same brand. ANOVA results show a main effect of gender and brand and an interaction of ingredient with both brand and communication, respectively. For both grass and potato proteins, the unknown brand is relatively preferred – more pronounced for potato – and better liked by males. Communication improves attitude towards potato drink. Findings imply that brand- and product design-related differences play a role in determining attitude to products with such new ingredients. Consumers’ relatively lower attitude towards the potato ingredient can be alleviated by communication.     

Putting HACCP into practice

Food manufacturers have the responsibility to protect consumers from foodborne hazards. The Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) method of food safety control is accepted as the best way to assure consumer safety in the production of foods. It is a preventive approach to food safety management and, in practice, requires the completion of 14 stages which result in the development, implementation and maintenance of HACCP systems. Effective use of HACCP gives food manufacturers greater confidence regarding consumer safety, compliance with legislation and ability continuously to improve food safety control.     

基于物联网的食品安全社会共治体系数据架构设计

近年来,随着食品产业规模逐步扩大,食品供应链中存在的安全风险给监管工作带来了新挑战,为了实现多元主体共同参与食品安全监管,形成食品安全社会共治模式,探索研究食品安全社会共治体系,就食品生产、加工、流通、销售、监管等环节产生的数据进行深入分析,提出了基于物联网的食品安全社会共治体系数据架构.该架构提供了各社会共治主体相关...