Food safety
use of antibiotics in raising livestock,” the WHO said in its report, ‘International law and the E. coli outbreaks in Europe’. On its World Health Day 2011, the WHO launched a campaign to reduce the use of antimicrobials in food-producing animals, claiming that the widespread use of antibiotics to promote growth and prevent disease in livestock was favouring the emergence and spread of resistant bacteria in both animal and human populations. Further concerns have been raised about the impact of climate change, which is increasing the numbers of flooding events, which move pathogens from places to ones they wouldn’t normally be.
Rest assured
So, when we’re dealing with a biological entity that responds so quickly to selective pressures, how do we ensure our food is safe? Good farm management practices and risk assessments are crucial, but quality assurance (QA) needs to happen at every stage of the supply chain. Narriman Looch, head of food hygiene and foodborne disease control at the Food Standards Agency (FSA), said: “It’s important that we work at every stage of the food chain to maintain good hygiene protocols, identify hazards and put in food safety chain protocols to prevent illness as food businesses must ensure the food they place on the market is safe.” There are many tools and resources available to help food producers. To name but a few, the FSA offers a guide to hazard analysis and critical control point hygiene systems in meat plants, while the Food Standards Agency Scotland’s fresh produce tool helps producers with risk management plans – such as how to irrigate certain types of crops and manage the risks around contamination. At the next stage of the chain, the Chilled Food Association helps to bridge the gap between primary producers and retailers via processors and manufacturers. The organisation offers guidance on food safety and hygiene, as well as raw material controls and factory management for chilled food products. Retailers need to work with the producers to ensure they have systems in place that meet their criteria. Major supermarket chains often have their own QA schemes but there are shared standards such as the Red Tractor scheme and the Global Food Safety Initiative. QA systems come at a price, obviously, which could be more punishing for the smaller players, such as farm shops. However, many of these are reporting new business from consumers who are concerned about mass-produced food. For example, Shropshire-based Fordhall Farm Shop put its meat provenance message at the heart of its recent online marketing campaign, which it says helped to increase sales by 12% in 2024.
Ingredients Insight /
www.ingredients-insight.com
“Our marketing message is all about provenance because our customers are looking for healthier sources of meat,” says tenant farmer Ben Hollins. “Our livestock only eat grass and our meat is all Pasture for Life certified. We don’t use proteins or concentrates.” Nottinghamshire-based Welbeck Farm Shop claims to have attracted new customers on the back of the recent bad press for processed foods. The shop’s general manager, Oliver Stubbins, says public concern over ingredients such as preservatives, stabilisers and other additives in highly processed food is rising. He cites the introduction of Bovaer into some dairy farms and the resulting “huge uplifts” in milk delivery services as evidence of this. “There’s definitely an increase in knowledge, concern and commitment to support farming from the general public. This provides a fantastic platform and opportunity to shift food culture and stop the loss leading and undervaluing of food we often see in supermarkets,” he says. “However, we must remember that many people in the UK are facing a cost-of-living crisis, and we need to acknowledge that there will always be a balance between ethical purchasing and affordability.”
Not only are minimally processed foods often more expensive, but they also bring their own level of risk too. The FSA says consumers can reduce the risk of most forms of food poisoning by following advice on the ‘4Cs of food hygiene’. These are: chilling, cleaning, cooking and avoiding cross-contamination. We should always be questioning and taking responsibility for our food but what does ‘safe food’ really mean? It means food that won’t cause you harm, but that doesn’t mean it’s microbe-free because food isn’t sterile. It’s quite likely that it will have E. coli on it – but, most probably, not the dangerous variety. ●
Improvements in detection methods mean new serogroups and strains can be more accurately detected.
54
The number of deaths from the 2011 outbreak, in which serogroup 0104 infected thousands of people across 12 European countries WHO
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Yayah_Ai/
Shutterstock.com
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