The operating environment for food safety interventions in nations such as Saudi Arabia, with limited local agricultural productivity, high reliance on foreign food imports and observance of Islamic ...laws, is remarkably challenging for the national control and regulatory institutions, since compliance to the mandatory food safety regulations and the local religious Halal standards must be ensured. This review offers a comprehensive analysis of the recently restructured food safety governance in Saudi Arabia from the perspective of its food imports control. Specifically, the nature of the food imports, the organization of the food safety governance and the current control practices of imported food, in consideration of food safety and Halal requirements, are analyzed through a triangulation of data and information from secondary sources (academic literature review and gray literature search) and primary sources (direct consultation of field experts). Statistical trade data on imported food were also performed. Results revealed that the process of centralizing all the control and regulatory activities under a single agency, which the government started to strengthen the national food safety governance, has not been completed yet. The resulting overlap of legislative and monitoring tasks by multiple entities augments the challenge of ensuring the safety, quality, and authenticity of imported food and their compliance to Halal standards. The vulnerabilities and challenges still to be addressed by the local food industry and the public sector are discussed, with implications for national and international field practitioners and policymakers of countries facing similar challenges.
There is a need to measure the food safety performance in the agri-food chain without performing actual microbiological analysis. A food safety performance diagnosis, based on seven indicators and ...corresponding assessment grids have been developed and validated in nine European food businesses. Validation was conducted on the basis of an extensive microbiological assessment scheme (MAS). The assumption behind the food safety performance diagnosis is that food businesses which evaluate the performance of their food safety management system in a more structured way and according to very strict and specific criteria will have a better insight in their actual microbiological food safety performance, because food safety problems will be more systematically detected. The diagnosis can be a useful tool to have a first indication about the microbiological performance of a food safety management system present in a food business. Moreover, the diagnosis can be used in quantitative studies to get insight in the effect of interventions on sector or governmental level.
Food safety outbreaks are recurrent events, which regularly cost human lives. Food safety goes beyond food safety management systems; an organisation's prevailing food safety culture, and its ...internal and external environment must also be considered. This study introduces a research framework to analyse crucial food safety culture elements, and characteristics of the internal (i.e. food safety program, product riskiness, and vulnerability of food production system) and the external company environment (i.e. national values and food safety governance characteristics). We hypothesised that companies producing high-risk products are more likely to demonstrate a proactive food safety culture. We used the framework to assess nine companies producing low, medium, and high-risk products in Zimbabwe, as a case of a transition economy. Results showed no direct relationship between product riskiness and food safety culture, which negated our hypothesis. Other variables explored in this study could have moderated the relationship. We found that the vulnerability (i.e. susceptibility to microbial contamination) of the food production system could be associated with an organisation's food safety culture. Moreover, the external environment could have shaped the prevailing food safety culture. In particular, food safety governance and national values seem to be reflected in the way food safety was prioritised, food safety programs were designed and implemented, the prevailing food safety culture, and the observed food safety behaviour. Further research could investigate the role of the external environment in an organisation's food safety culture by evaluating companies in countries operating with different food safety governance approaches and national values.
•Prevailing food safety culture seems independent of product riskiness.•Food safety governance could explain the prevailing food safety culture.•Multinational companies have a better food safety culture than local companies.
The purpose of the paper is to present the first stage of work being undertaken to develop and evaluate a maturity framework designed to assess and benchmark the effectiveness, ability to achieve ...continuous improvement, and optimise processes and functioning of food safety regulatory and enforcement agencies across the world.
To achieve this aim, a comparison of global food safety regulations, and Delphi-interviews with stakeholders of food safety regulatory and enforcement agencies from Australia, Canada, Ireland, and USA were carried out. Through inductive, textual data analysis, three dimensions and thirteen sub-dimensions were identified that covered cultural and systems elements influencing the quality and impact of food safety regulations across the world as well as the gaps identified by the stakeholders.
The conclusions of the paper are that whilst there is broad support by food safety regulators for developing a benchmarking and evaluation framework for food safety regulatory and enforcement agencies, there are also some outstanding challenges such as defining globally applicable measures, buy-in from specialised agencies and senior management to adopt a maturity framework to change the culture within regulatory agencies, and the role played by governments in influencing the efficiency and functioning of regulatory systems.
While more research would be required to further develop a maturity scale to assess food safety regulatory and enforcement agencies, it is concluded that evaluating the maturity of food safety regulatory and enforcement agencies (FSRA) by food safety regulators is a realistic possibility but needs to take account of some of the lessons which could be learnt from guidance frameworks with similar goals (e.g., the Food and Agriculture Organization's Food Control System Assessment Tool). Evaluation of the framework should be carried out by national agencies to develop a user-centred maturity toolkit.
•Food safety regulators' perspectives on the building blocks of agencies were identified.•Actions required to help agencies evolve into mature organisations were explored.•Globally applicable model to capture the maturity of food safety agencies was developed.•Diverse regulatory and enforcement practices of agencies were identified.•Challenges faced by agencies and their impact on public health and trade were identified.
Food safety has become an important public health concern and many governments have put in place measures to manage the risks. Most often however, people's attitudes to health and food safety and how ...they respond to such information depend on their level of concern about the risks. This study assessed public level of concern about specific food safety hazards and risks to provide better insights into food safety issues that the public is most concerned about, the possible drivers of the concerns as well as interventions that could be designed to manage the concerns. Upon receiving ethical approval, a cross-sectional survey was conducted in Accra to gather data on public perceptions and concerns about twelve microbiological and chemical hazards and risks. Findings showed that majority of the public was either extremely or very worried about all the twelve hazards and risks. Also, when people worried about one risk they were also likely to worry about all the other risks. However, the level of concern about unhygienic selling, cooking and serving environments was significantly more severe than concern for all other risks while statistically the same level of concern was expressed about chemical hazards such as excess artificial food flavours and colours, Sudan dye in palm oil, pesticides residues, and leaked contaminants from plastic packages. Furthermore, the public was relatively least worried about safety of foods produced around mining sites and aflatoxin contamination as compared to other food safety risks. The degree of concern about food safety risks was influenced by gender and possibly people's level of knowledge and awareness about the risks. In conclusion, public institutions should continuously interact with the public and share relevant information on food safety hazards and risks including preventive and mitigation measures to minimise their concerns.
•57–91% of public were either extremely or very worried about food safety risks.•Public was significantly more worried about unhygienic cooking or selling sites.•People had statistically the same degree of concern about most chemical hazards.•Concern about a food safety risk would likely lead to concern about other risks.•Public was least worried about safety of food produced around mining sites.
Following the 2005 E. coli O157 outbreak in the UK and the recommendations in the subsequent Public Enquiry Report in 2009, the topic of food safety culture became more prominent. In 2012, the United ...Kingdom's Food Standards Agency (FSA) commissioned a tool that enforcement officers could use to assess ‘softer aspects’ of risk such as safety culture, attitudes and behaviours. In the present study, we assessed the awareness of and views on safety culture in the food industry among a group of industry stakeholders (Environmental Health Officers, Food and Beverage Managers, Academics). The study also examines their attitudes towards the toolkit and ways in which it could be improved (e.g., its usability). The conclusions of the paper are that whilst there is broad support for implementing safety culture in the food industry, there are also some outstanding challenges (e.g., defining food safety culture, senior management commitment and the role played by ‘micro-cultures’ within food organisations). Assessing safety culture in the food industry is a realistic possibility, but needs to take account of some of the lessons which could be learnt from other industries (e.g., healthcare, rail, oil and gas) and their experiences with safety culture.
•The food industry aims to achieve food safety by solely focusing on traditional methods.•The food industry needs to move on from reactive methods to achieve success in a changing environment.•Assessing safety culture in food businesses is vital and beneficial for the food industry.•Most stakeholders are ready to adopt a proactive approach towards achieving food safety.
Salmonella screening is a key to ensure food safety in poultry supply chains. Currently available Salmonella detection methods including culture, polymerase chain reaction and enzyme-linked ...immuno-sorbent assay could not achieve rapid, sensitive, and in-field detection. In this study, different strategies for separation and detection of Salmonella were proposed, compared, and improved based on our previous studies on immunomagnetic separation and impedance biosensor. First, the coaxial capillary for immunomagnetic separation of target bacteria was improved with less contamination, and 3 strategies based on the improved capillary and immunomagnetic nanoparticles were compared to separate the target bacteria from sample and form the magnetic bacteria. The experimental results showed that the strategy of capture in tube and separation in capillary was the most suitable with separation efficiency of approximately 88%. Then, the immune gold nanoparticles coated with urease were used to label the magnetic bacteria, resulting in the formation of enzymatic bacteria, which were injected into the capillary. After the urea was catalyzed by the urease on the enzymatic bacteria in the capillary, different electrodes were compared to measure the impedance of the catalysate and the screen-printed electrode with higher sensitivity and better stability was the most suitable. This impedance biosensor-based bacterial detection strategy was able to detect Salmonella as low as 10
CFU/mL in 2 h without complex operations. Compared to the gold standard culture method for practical screening of Salmonella in poultry supply chains, this proposed strategy had an accuracy of approximately 90% for 75 real poultry samples.
The FDA's (Food and Drug Administration) FSMA (Food Safety Modernization Act) is the most sweeping reform of United States food safety laws in more than 70 years. The key to successful implementation ...of FSMA rules depends on building a comprehensive Food Safety System with effective prerequisite programs in place and a well-designed Food Safety Plan that incorporates risk-based preventive controls to mitigate hazards.This book provides essential guidance for small to mid-sized businesses on how to design, implement, and maintain a world-class Food Safety Plan that conforms to FSMA regulations. With practical and up-to-date advice, the author offers a straight forward approach for readers to successfully migrate into FSMA. The inclusion of fully developed Food Safety Plans as well as examples of hazards and preventative controls make this a must-read not only for those that are new to the regulations, but also those with a plan already in place.
All plants are inhabited internally by diverse microbial communities comprising bacterial, archaeal, fungal, and protistic taxa. These microorganisms showing endophytic lifestyles play crucial roles ...in plant development, growth, fitness, and diversification. The increasing awareness of and information on endophytes provide insight into the complexity of the plant microbiome. The nature of plant-endophyte interactions ranges from mutualism to pathogenicity. This depends on a set of abiotic and biotic factors, including the genotypes of plants and microbes, environmental conditions, and the dynamic network of interactions within the plant biome. In this review, we address the concept of endophytism, considering the latest insights into evolution, plant ecosystem functioning, and multipartite interactions.
There is an urgent need to drive improvements in the efficiency and effectiveness of food chains. The global population is expected to reach at least 9 billion by the year 2050, requiring up to 70% ...more food, and demanding food production systems and the food chain to become fully sustainable. This challenge is complicated by a number of overarching issues, including increasing complexity of food supply chains, environmental constraints, a growing aging population and changing patterns of consumer choice and food consumption. Within this context, food safety must be an enabler and not inhibitor of global food security.
This paper will highlight how recent developments and trends related to food safety will impact the food sector and ultimately the ability of the sector to deliver food security.
Global megatrends including climate change, a growing and aging population, urbanisation, and increased affluence will create food safety challenges and place new demands on producers, manufacturers, marketers, retailers and regulators. Advances in science and technology such as whole genome sequencing, active packaging, developments in tracing and tracking technologies, information computing technology and big data analysis has the potential to help mitigate the challenges and meet demands, but will also create new challenges. Overcoming a number of these challenges will be difficult for developed economies and large food companies, but even greater for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), developing economies and smallholder farmers, noting that each is a critical component in the global food supply.
•There is an urgent need to drive improvements in the efficiency and effectiveness of food chains.•Recent developments and trends related to food safety will impact the food sector and its ability to deliver food security.•Food safety must be an enabler and not inhibitor of global food security.
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