Thinking About The Future Of Food Safety

Agrifood systems are undergoing a transformation with the aim to provide safer, more affordable, and healthier diets for all, produced in a sustainable manner while delivering just and equitable livelihoods: a key to achieving the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. However, this transformation needs to be executed in the global context of major challenges facing the food and agriculture sectors, with drivers such as climate change, population growth, urbanization, and natural resources depletion compounding these challenges. Food safety is a keystone to agrifood systems and all food safety actors need to keep pace with the ongoing transformation while preparing to navigate the potential threats, disruptions, and challenges that may arise. Foresight in food safety facilitates the proactive identification of drivers and related trends, both within and outside agrifood systems, that have implications for food safety and therefore also for consumer health, the national economy, and international trade. Early identification and evaluation of drivers and trends promote strategic planning and preparedness to take advantage of emerging opportunities and address challenges in food safety. In this publication, the FAO Food Safety Foresight programme provides an overview of the major global drivers and trends by describing their implications for food safety in particular and for agrifood systems by extrapolation. The various drivers and trends reported include climate change, changing consumer behaviour and preferences, new food sources and production systems, technological advances, microbiome, circular economy, food fraud, among others. The intended audience for this publication is broad – from the policymakers, academia, food business operators, private sector, to all of us, the consumers.

This technical summary prepared by FAO and the World Health Organization (WHO) reports on the two international food safety conferences held in Addis Ababa and Geneva in February and April 2019. It recalls the key actions and strategies presented to address current and future challenges to food safety globally and the steps required to strengthen commitment at the highest political level to scale up food safety in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. At a pivotal moment focussing international attention on actions needed to bolster food safety, this publication recalls the priorities discussed so that food safety strategies and approaches can be aligned across sectors and borders, reinforcing efforts to reach the Sustainable Development Goals and supporting the UN Decade of Action on Nutrition.

This catalogue aims to improve the dissemination and outreach of FAO’s knowledge products and overall publishing programme. By providing information on its key publications in every area of FAO’s work, and catering to a range of audiences, it thereby contributes to all organizational outcomes. From statistical analysis to specialized manuals to children’s books, FAO publications cater to a diverse range of audiences. This catalogue presents a selection of FAO’s main publications, produced in 2023 or earlier, ranging from its global reports and general interest publications to numerous specialized titles. In addition to the major themes of agriculture, forestry and fisheries, it also includes thematic sections on climate change, economic and social development, and food safety and nutrition.

Building the Future of Food Safety Technology: Blockchain and Beyond focuses on evaluating, developing, testing and predicting Blockchain’s impact on the food industry, the types of regulatory compliance needed, and other topics important pertaining to consumers. Blockchain is a technology that can be used to record transactions from multiple entities across a complex network. A record on a blockchain cannot be altered retroactively without the alteration of all preceding blocks and the consensus of the network. Blockchain is often associated with cryptocurrency, but it is being looked at more and more as a solution to food-supply problems. Presents the latest information on Blockchain’s impact in the food industry Bridges food technology and food safety Provides guidance and expert insights on the food supply chain

Food Safety: Past, Present, and Predictions offers a multidisciplinary approach on major food industry regulatory compliance changes that have emerged since the landmark 1993 E.coli outbreak. The book is broad in coverage, providing a look back at 25 years of change in order to better conceptualize the future of effective and sustainable food safety compliance efforts and technologies. Historical case studies and technological developments are written by experts and those who played key roles in events. Topics are explained in a way that not only helps improve industry and consumer awareness, but also offers tools to improve education and communication. Provides understanding of the true burden of disease Examines industry change over the past 25 years and beyond Explains the consumer and industry forces behind FSMA passage and implementation Analyzes criticisms of FSMA and the quest for an integrated food safety partnership Offers considerations for effective and sustainable use of new technologies, including Blockchain

While presenting the latest scientific research on the major pathogens associated with meat, poultry, produce, and other foods, Pre-Harvest and Post-Harvest Food Safety: Contemporary Issues and Future Directions goes beyond other professional reference books by identifying the research needed to assure food safety in the future. The editors and authors not only review the current, cutting-edge literature in each of their areas, but provide insights and forward thinking into the development of new and innovative approaches and research strategies. Scientists and researchers from academia, government, and industry have collaborated to examine the high-priority food safety areas recognized by the federal government: pathogen/host interactions; ecology, distribution and spread of foodborne hazards; antibiotic resistance; verification tests; decontamination and prevention strategies; and risk analysis. A worthy new edition to the IFT Press series of food science and technology titles, Pre-Harvest and Post-Harvest Food Safety describes what we now know in food safety and provides a framework and focus for future research to improve diagnostic capabilities and intervention strategies for enteropathogens.

Globalization of the food supply has created conditions favorable for the emergence, reemergence, and spread of food-borne pathogens-compounding the challenge of anticipating, detecting, and effectively responding to food-borne threats to health. In the United States, food-borne agents affect 1 out of 6 individuals and cause approximately 48 million illnesses, 128,000 hospitalizations, and 3,000 deaths each year. This figure likely represents just the tip of the iceberg, because it fails to account for the broad array of food-borne illnesses or for their wide-ranging repercussions for consumers, government, and the food industry-both domestically and internationally. A One Health approach to food safety may hold the promise of harnessing and integrating the expertise and resources from across the spectrum of multiple health domains including the human and veterinary medical and plant pathology communities with those of the wildlife and aquatic health and ecology communities. The IOM's Forum on Microbial Threats hosted a public workshop on December 13 and 14, 2011 that examined issues critical to the protection of the nation's food supply. The workshop explored existing knowledge and unanswered questions on the nature and extent of food-borne threats to health. Participants discussed the globalization of the U.S. food supply and the burden of illness associated with foodborne threats to health; considered the spectrum of food-borne threats as well as illustrative case studies; reviewed existing research, policies, and practices to prevent and mitigate foodborne threats; and, identified opportunities to reduce future threats to the nation's food supply through the use of a "One Health" approach to food safety. Improving Food Safety Through a One Health Approach: Workshop Summary covers the events of the workshop and explains the recommendations for future related workshops.

The past few years have witnessed an upsurge in incidencesrelating to food safety issues, which are all attributed todifferent factors. Today, with the increase in knowledge andavailable databases on food safety issues, the world is witnessingtremendous efforts towards the development of new, economical andenvironmentally-friendly techniques for maintaining the quality ofperishable foods and agro-based commodities. The intensification offood safety concerns reflects a major global awareness of foods inworld trade. Several recommendations have been put forward byvarious world governing bodies and committees to solve food safetyissues, which are all mainly targeted at benefiting consumers. Inaddition, economic losses and instability to a particular nation orregion caused by food safety issues can be huge. Various‘non-dependent’ risk factors can be involved withregard to food safety in a wide range of food commodities such asfresh fruits, vegetables, seafood, poultry, meat and meat products.Additionally, food safety issues involves a wide array of issuesincluding processed foods, packaging, post-harvest preservation,microbial growth and spoilage, food poisoning, handling at themanufacturing units, food additives, presence of banned chemicalsand drugs, and more. Rapid change in climatic conditions is alsoplaying a pivotal role with regard to food safety issues, andincreasing the anxiety about our ability to feed the worldsafely. Practical Food Safety: Contemporary Issues and FutureDirections takes a multi-faceted approach to the subject offood safety, covering various aspects ranging from microbiologicalto chemical issues, and from basic knowledge to futureperspectives. This is a book exclusively designed to simultaneouslyencourage consideration of the present knowledge and futurepossibilities of food safety. This book also covers the classictopics required for all books on food safety, and encompasses themost recent updates in the field. Leading researchers haveaddressed new issues and have put forth novel research findingsthat will affect the world in the future, and suggesting how theseshould be faced. This book will be useful for researchers engaged in the field offood science and food safety, food industry personnel engaged insafety aspects, and governmental and non-governmental agenciesinvolved in establishing guidelines towards establishing safetymeasures for food and agricultural commodities.