Food Safety Must Come First in Globalised Food Industry

08 Apr 2015 --- With much of our food going through various national and international channels, keeping food safety standards up and protecting the consumer from illness has taken precedence at this year’s World Health Day, which is being held today.

The day is celebrated annually to commemorate the foundation of the World Health Organisation (WHO), this year focussed on food safety in an increasingly globalised food industry.

Last week the WHO released new data on the harm caused by foodborne illnesses and highlighted the global threats posed by unsafe foods, and the need for coordinated, cross-border action across the entire food supply chain. Some two million people, many of them children, die each year from food safety-related illness.

“Food production has been industrialized and its trade and distribution have been globalized,” says WHO Director-General Dr Margaret Chan. “These changes introduce multiple new opportunities for food to become contaminated with harmful bacteria, viruses, parasites, or chemicals.”

Dr Chan adds: “A local food safety problem can rapidly become an international emergency. Investigation of an outbreak of foodborne disease is vastly more complicated when a single plate or package of food contains ingredients from multiple countries.”

Unsafe food can contain harmful bacteria, viruses, parasites or chemical substances, and cause more than 200 diseases - ranging from diarrhoea to cancers. Examples of unsafe food include undercooked foods of animal origin, fruits and vegetables contaminated with faeces, and shellfish containing marine biotoxins.

EU Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Vytenis Andriukaitis joined forces with the WHO to bring food safety to the top of the agenda. Europe is a gateway for both imports and exports of food and its stringent food safety laws are respected world-over.

Andriukaitis said that Europe should be proud that its 500 million consumers benefit from the highest food safety standards in the world and that many other countries take them as the norm to be followed. However, with the globalisation of trade in food, maintaining food safety and hygiene standards whilst providing non-EU countries access to our market is more important than ever. 

EU food safety policy safeguards health along the agri-food chain. A body of law underpinned by solid science and risk assessment marks the cornerstone of Europe’s “from farm to fork” policy. As a result, Europeans can enjoy safe and nutritious food produced from healthy plants and animals, whilst enabling the food industry - Europe’s largest manufacturing and employment sector - to operate under the best possible conditions. Protecting the health of humans, animals and plants at every stage of the food production process is a key public health and economic priority. Compulsory checks take place to ensure that animals and plants are healthy; and that animal feed is safe, of high quality, appropriately labelled, and meets strict EU standards to prevent contamination and promote hygiene. The EU also ensures through rigorous controls that food imports and exports are safe. 

Food safety requirements go hand in hand with Public Health and economic requirements. Furthermore being inter-connected they are a shared responsibility. Promoting food safety together with healthy and sustainable diet can contribute to a healthier population as well as an appreciable food waste reduction. Such an environmental friendly approach will fast turn in savings on our health systems. 

Andriukaitis said: “I remain committed to working with international partners, as well as EU Member States, to tackle new and emerging threats to public health such as flu pandemics and food-borne illnesses. I also intend to build on our food safety standards so that they remain fit for purpose. The Commission joins the World Health Organisation (WHO) in calling for strengthened efforts to secure the highest possible levels of health protection and food safety throughout the world.”

Michael R Taylor is the US Food & Drug Administration’s (FDA) deputy commissioner for Foods & Veterinary Medicine. In a statement on World Health Day, he underlined the importance of people, not policy, to keep the food that is traded and consumed around the world safe.

He said: “Keeping food safe, from farm to table, is at the core of our mission as an agency and at the heart of the preventive, risk-focused food safety system envisioned by the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA).

“We’re not alone in recognizing this critical need. Other countries as well are looking for ways to build preventive, modern food safety systems. Just two weeks ago, my colleagues and I were in India to meet with public health officials, regulators and representatives of industry. We all take the same position on food safety: As nations we must be strong individually and collectively, working in partnership to apply controls as foods increasingly cross multiple borders to reach foreign markets.

“The challenges are great, starting with the complexity of a global supply chain in which food sources are far flung. There’s the difficulty of building comparable preventive controls in food systems that can vary widely from nation to nation. There’s also the issue of resources, as nations face financial constraints and competing priorities.

“And while we can arrive at the best standards, whether they’re based on FSMA or Codex Alimentarius - a collection of international food safety standards, guidelines and codes of practice - we must find a way to verify that these requirements are being met every day in every country. Rules and regulations alone won’t make foods safe. What matters is how we, as an international community, achieve high rates of compliance with standards that prevent illness,” he concluded.

One way of regulating the food safety standards worldwide is the ISO Standards that promote the quality and safety of food, as well as the efficiency of the food supply chain from farm to fork and help prevent diseases, detect bacteria and manage risk.

From agricultural producers to food manufacturers, laboratories, regulators, consumers, a collection of ISO standards ensure the world uses the same recipe when it comes to food quality, safety and efficiency.

Working through its network of national members, ISO standards bring together the foremost expertise and best practices on food safety in the world and disseminate it to both developed and developing countries.