Food Safety, Risk Intelligence and Benchmarking

Sylvain Charlebois

• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9781119071129
• eBook ISBN: 9781119071105
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Food Science
• Index: Technology & Engineering

This book comprehensively argues for more future benchmarking between nations. Since the initial food safety benchmarking report was published in 2008, the sharing of data and protocols among nations has dramatically increased. It was intended to identify and evaluate common elements among global food safety systems. More specifically, benchmarking identifies those countries that employ comparatively best practices to assess, manage, and communicate the risks related to the safety of food and their respective food systems. The overarching intent of this benchmarking assessment, however, is to stimulate exchange and discussion on food safety performance among nations.

1
Introduction: Facing Global Realities

This book includes the findings of 2010 and 2014 comparative studies of the food safety systems of some industrialized countries entitled “Food Safety Performance World Ranking.” These reports were a follow‐up on the 2008 inaugural world ranking. The purpose of this book is to place that ranking in a broader context through deeper analysis and a more expansive discussion of new, developing, and future issues in food safety unaddressed by the report.

Facing Global Realities

Global food systems connect all consumers. Food unites both global hemispheres through exchanges of commodities, knowledge, and technologies. The rich, the poor, farmers, and city dwellers, all are interconnected within food systems for the simple reason that everyone needs to eat. Many rarely think about it, but these links form a reality that is becoming more apparent as forces such as globalization and technology extend and intensify.

But while food systems bring us together, they do not always do so in positive ways. Increasingly, perceptions of fear and risk cause food systems from around the world to integrate (Spiekermann, 2009).

In the context of food safety, 2003 was a notorious year for Canada. During that year, the country diagnosed its first native mad cow case, and, in response, 35 countries issued embargos against Canadian beef. For the first time, a food safety‐driven issue made headlines for weeks in our country. The United States did not allow Canadian beef in their country because of fear that it would compromise the value of their own beef products in lucrative markets like Japan (Lewis and Tyshenko, 2009).

Further major food recalls—related to spinach, peppers, and sliced meat—kept agriculture and the food industry in the public eye ever since. The Maple Leaf recall, triggered by a listeria outbreak that caused the death of 22 Canadians, is undoubtedly the biggest food safety story Canada has seen (Goveia, 2010).

In 2008, a global food crisis made media headlines and brought the topic of agriculture back to the front pages. Hunger, starvation, riots, and volatile civil unrest in numerous countries for several months occurred at the same time as record‐breaking profits for Maple Leaf Foods (Pechlaner, 2010).

While the triggers of food crisis in 2008 were multifaceted and incorporated some environmental factors (such as climate change, droughts, and natural fires), many of these causes were human induced. These were structural and arose from societal decisions about the roles of agriculture, food, health, and regulation. Agricultural trade liberalization, the growth of biofuels, and a preference for commercial over subsistence agriculture in developing countries are a few instances of practices that influenced the crisis.

Food systems from around the world are exposed to mounting systemic pressures. In order to feed the planet, the world’s agricultural output will need to increase by more than 40% in 2030 and by 70% in 2070 (Moeller, 2010). More than half of the world’s population lives in an area with only a third of the world’s arable land (Kelleher, 2010). The next decade is likely to see a major shift in global agricultural production and trade, and so system interconnectivity will become more significant though trades, exchanges, and strategic involvement.

The world has already shown that it can dramatically increase its food production capacity, but the situation today is different. Unlike at any other stage in history, water supplies are becoming scarcer and, therefore, irrigation technologies will be the key for agriculture. National governments are coping with shifting climate patterns that are challenging to predict and manage. We have recently experienced extreme climates that have affected crops and livestock producers from around the world. Responses and implemented policies vary from one country to another. In addition, interest in the environment and awareness of agriculture’s carbon footprint is growing. Agriculture, which historically has been exempted from new environmental policies, is expected to undergo changes in years to come. Like other industries, agriculture will have to cope with environmental constraints that are both justifiable and a new challenge.

On the innovation front, genomics has played a significant part in augmenting our capacity to grow foods. This trend started many decades ago with arrivals of new genetically engineered crop seeds and will likely continue. Previously, the approach to agriculture was a linear thought process involving three Fs: food, feed, and fiber. However, methodologies such as genomics will soon change the relationships among these and other theoretical models.

Bioinformatics made it possible to sequence the human genome, thus enabling humanity to decode the basic instructions of life. Bioinformatics, or synthetic genomics, is recognizing the limitations of DNA management as DNA can break easily and becomes difficult to manipulate (Nicholson, 2009). The rise of bioinformatics has boosted the efforts of companies, most importantly in pharmaceuticals, to search for the right drugs and vaccines for particular diseases.

Bioinformatics will likely change our lives, but many wonder if food consumers and farmers are ready for these changes. We may be able 1 day to “print” mouse hearts, or even pig skin, literally (Beachy, 2010). But most consumers and farmers do not know what the term bioinformatics means, let alone how it will affect their daily lives.

Embracing biotechnologies can be a double‐edged sword. It may not increase the risks to which consumers are exposed, but it will certainly alter those risks in many ways. Most importantly, the ways in which consumers perceive products crafted by new technologies will also change.

Agriculture’s newfound prosperity, founded in part on growing connections with life sciences, is here to stay. The value of farmland around the world has increased significantly over the past deca...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Table of Contents
• Preface and Acknowledgment
• 1 Introduction
• 2 How Was Canada Doing in 2010? A Comparative Analysis
• 3 Consumer Affairs
• 4 Biosecurity
• 5 Governance and Recalls
• 6 Traceability and Management
• 7 The 2014 Survey
• 8 The Future of Global Food Safety Systems and Risk Intelligence
• References
• Index
• End User License Agreement