Food safety
As the world grapples with the end of the pandemic and ongoing conflict in Ukraine, how can we ensure our food supply is safe?
be captured containing key data elements as an area of concern. This, though, is not exclusive to the US. “Knowledge of where ingredients and food have come from, and their journey, are key to food safety management,” says Bessy. Information on any transformation process, such as temperature monitoring and shipping and receiving dates, can provide a better understanding of whether a hazard may have been removed or reduced. “The critical tracking of events may vary according to the commodity and its perishability. But having consistent and consensus information is what will ultimately make tracking such events a critical resource in food safety management.”
“Knowledge of where ingredients and food have come from, and their journey, are key to food safety management.” Catherine Bessy
The US is tackling the growing thorny issue of traceability as part of its ‘New Era of Smarter Food Safety’ initiative – which leverages technology and other tools and approaches to create a safer and more digital, traceable food system. The FDA issued its final rule on Requirements for Additional Traceability Records for Certain Foods in November last year. It hopes this will enhance traceability through record keeping requirements beyond those in existing regulations, for anyone that manufactures, processes, packs or holds foods included on the Food Traceability List. “These new requirements – compliance dates do not arrive until 20 January 2026 – identified in the final rule will allow for faster identification and rapid removal of potentially contaminated food from the market, resulting in fewer foodborne illnesses and/or deaths,” says Webb.
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Monitoring, though, is not the only issue exercising the minds of those involved in the food supply chain right now. Cahill says there are other trends she and other stakeholders are seeing for 2023, including: the increased availability of digital tools to support remote inspection activities, which she says represents a potential benefit that many countries still have to assess and develop good practices for their meaningful use; increased awareness in low and middle-income countries that the risk analysis paradigm should be better used in building their programmes of inspection; and an increased use of electronic certification systems in addition to other types of mandatory certification processes. Although, she says, the latter needs to be better managed by the sector to avoid “the potential multiplication of parallel systems”. Ensuring global food safety is complex and multifaceted. Although global events and the climate are arguably hindering it at both a domestic and international level, as Benjamin Franklin said, “from adversity comes opportunity”. To make good on that, stakeholders will need to come together, including food regulators. “We all have limited resources and, with the 2030 agenda, limited time,” say Bessy and Cahill. “FAO and WHO have long worked together in this regard and continue to do so, developing a global food safety strategy and our FAO food safety priorities in a coordinated and cohesive manner. But we’re not the only agencies working on food safety, so coordination is key to speed up progress and avoid duplication.”
For the FDA, its ‘New Era of Smarter Food Safety’ initiative will look to leverage technology and other tools and approaches to create a safer and more digital, traceable food system. Webb says it will “address issues across the food safety spectrum through the use of modern tools and approaches to enhance traceability, improve predictive analytics, respond more rapidly to outbreaks, address new business models, reduce contamination of food and foster the development of stronger food safety cultures”.
Almost acknowledging the difficulties that the likes of the FDA and FSA face, the two agree that resources remain a key challenge for many: “In the past few years many countries diverted resources to deal with the pandemic, which meant many other parts of national governments had even less than before to deal with their respective areas.” It is clear that another old adage is more palpable today than it has ever been – we need to do more, with less. Webb is, however, keen to point out that the work of the FDA continues, despite increased pressures: “Our food safety standards do not change during shortages, in fact food safety concerns can become even more important.” How 2023 will unfold remains to be seen, but the understanding is it will not be easy. ●
Ingredients Insight /
www.ingredients-insight.com
aslysun/
Shutterstock.com
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