Previous research demonstrated the influence of food safety climate on the food safety output of food companies on an organizational (company) level. At the individual level, the relation between ...food safety climate and employees' food safety behavior still has to be unraveled. Therefore, the conceptual food safety culture model of De Boeck, Jacxsens, Bollaerts, and Vlerick (2015) was expanded by introducing food safety behavior (composed of food safety compliance and participation, which represent obligated food safety related activities and the achievement of additional voluntary food safety related activities), knowledge, motivation, burnout and jobstress of the individual employees in the organization.
In the present study the relationship between food safety climate and food safety behavior was investigated. Food safety knowledge and motivation were proposed as mediators, explaining the relationship between climate and behavior. Additionally, jobstress and burnout were proposed as moderators, influencing the strength of this relationship. This conceptual model was tested through statistical analysis with data (n = 85) collected from two Belgian vegetable processing companies through self-assessment surveys.
A positive relationship between food safety climate and employees' behavior was found. Mediation analysis showed that knowledge is a partial mediator between food safety climate and compliance, participation and behavior, which means that knowledge cannot fully explain this relationship. Motivation is a partial mediator between food safety climate and compliance and behavior only. The moderation effect between jobstress and burnout was not confirmed. These results demonstrate the direct (without mediation) and indirect effect (through motivation and knowledge) of food safety climate on employees' behavior and illustrate the key role of employees' behavior and well-being for governing food safety in a company. This study suggests that human factors might impact the implementation and follow-up of a food safety management system and recommends a more human behavioral approach for the food safety management in food companies.
•An extended food safety culture conceptual model is proposed.•The relation between food safety climate and food safety behavior is investigated.•A positive relation between food safety climate and employees'behavior was found.•Food safety motivation and knowledge are partial mediators in the relationship.•No moderation effect of burnout and jobstress could be proven.
Taking food safety culture into account is a promising way to improve food safety performance in the food industry. Food safety culture (FS-culture) research is expanding from an organisational ...perspective to include characteristics of the internal and external company environment. In this study, the prevailing food safety culture in 17 food companies from four countries on three continents (Africa, Asia and Europe) was assessed in view of food safety governance and national values. The internal environment characteristics, i.e. food safety vision, food safety program and food production system vulnerability, were also assessed. Statistical analysis revealed little variation in FS-culture scores between the companies within the same country. Overall the FS-culture for Greek and Zambian companies was scored proactive, while for Chinese and Tanzanian companies an active score was achieved. Both the internal and external company environment seemed to influence the prevailing FS-culture. Cluster analysis showed that Tanzanian and Zambian companies exhibited similarities in the implementation of food safety programs, and in their national values and food safety governance as compared to Greece and China. Food safety governance was reflected in the food safety programs and supportiveness of the organisation to food safety and hygiene. All cultural dimensions were correlated with risk perceptions, with masculinity and long-term orientation also significantly correlated with the enabling conditions and attitude. Understanding how national values and food safety governance approaches differently influence food safety culture is expected to enable formulation of best approaches tailored for companies operating in countries with different company environments, to improve food safety performance.
•Prevailing food safety culture is correlated with food safety performance.•Knowledge of a company's environment is vital to understand its food safety culture.•National values could have a role in an organisation's food safety culture.
To improve food safety interventions and policy actions, it is important to investigate factors that affect the food safety behavior of consumers in the domestic environment. This study is the result ...of a combination of two other studies. The Expert Study applied the Delphi method to organize responses and opinions of food safety experts in Vietnam to investigate critical factors affecting food safety behavior. The Disadvantaged People Study was implemented to investigate potential factors from the perspectives of disadvantaged people preparing meals for their families or feeding themselves. The final set of factors was compiled when both studies had been completed, and includes demographic factors, motivation factors (knowledge about causes of food-borne illness and safe food handling practices; perceived risk of food-borne illness and safe food handling practices), enabling factors (being informed with food safety guidance; availability of appropriate tools, space, and resources; and lifestyle), and maintaining factors (habits and heuristics; food preferences; and societal and social influences). Efforts to improve consumers’ food safety behavior should pay more attention to contextual factors to be in line with local norms, and address various factors preventing food-borne diseases in the domestic environment.
•The research combined two studies: the Expert Study and the Disadvantaged People Study.•The factors affecting consumers' food safety behavior were explored from multiple perspectives.•Four identified domain factors incorporating nine factors designed to improve consumers' food safety behavior.
Up to now scientific research focused on analytical methods, food processing technology and product formulations as technological solutions and food safety management systems as managerial solutions ...to improve the hygiene and safety status of food products along the food supply chain. However, in practice, a well elaborated and ‘fit for purpose’ food safety management system, does not always guarantee the highest level of food safety and hygiene and a stable system output. Human behavior (e.g. the actual execution of procedures), and decision making is influenced by the perceived food safety climate in an organization.
The aim of this work was to set a definition for food safety climate and culture and to develop and validate a tool to assess the food safety climate in food companies.
A definition of food safety culture and food safety climate is offered and key components are identified. Next, a self-assessment tool with twenty eight indicators and a Likert based answer scale was developed and validated by experts and tested in a pilot study. The proposed tool enables food companies to go beyond traditional food safety management, based on technological and managerial approaches, and mirrors the human dimension in food safety.
•A definition and conceptual model for food safety culture was developed.•A definition for food safety climate was developed.•Components are leadership, communication, commitment, resources and risk awareness.•A food safety climate self-assessment tool with 28 indicators was developed.•The tool was validated by experts in the field of food safety and applied in a case study.
Ochratoxin A (OTA) is the most common contaminant in food and feed, which causes nephrotoxicity. Studies revealed that a low level of OTA contamination could also cause physiological dysfunction. ...Chronic kidney disease (CKD) has become an important public health problem with increasing morbidity. However, the potential effect of nontoxic OTA on CKD remains uncertain. In this study, adriamycin (ADR) and cyclosporine A (CSA) were used to stimulate glomerular nephropathy and tubular nephropathy, respectively. Renal injury was aggravated due to OTA (0.25 mg/kg) exposure in the mouse nephropathy models, assessing by renal histomorphology and the detection of blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and serum creatine (SCr) levels. We noticed that nontoxic dosage of OTA increased the expression of fibrotic factors, α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA), and Vimentin in a nephropathic mouse, which indicated the exacerbation of ADR/CSA-induced renal fibrosis. We conducted in vitro experiments in glomerular mesangial cells and renal tubular epithelial cells. Nontoxic concentration of OTA was found to exacerbate the cytotoxicity of ADR/CSA and intensify renal fibrosis by activating TGF-β1/SMAD2/3. Thus, this study may provide convincing evidence for the prevention of CKD aggravation and the renewal of food hygiene standards in mycotoxin contamination.
Fish is one of the most common foods that cause allergic reactions. The study of cross-reactivity among fishes using mass spectrometry (MS) is still limited. We developed a strategy using ...microfluidic chips coupled with matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) to evaluate cross-reactivity among fishes. The protocol employed commercial magnetic beads functionalized with anti-human IgE antibodies to carry out the IgEs immunomagnetic separation in blood samples, followed by the capture of allergens from seafood protein extracts in a single-straight microfluidic channel. After elution, the captured allergens were digested and identified by MALDI-TOF MS and high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry and validated by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). An investigation of the reproducibility revealed that the protocol can sense well the allergens in a food matrix. Seven fish species were analyzed to evaluate the allergic cross-reactivity among fishes. The commercial ELISA test gave consistent results with the presently developed strategy when the same allergenicity test was performed. Parvalbumins were detected from five of the seven analyzed fishes. The sequence alignment of parvalbumins revealed that the similarity of parvalbumins identified from the analyzed fishes is larger than 64%. Boiling may reduce the allergenicity of fish, as demonstrated by a marginal diminish in the parvalbumin content of crucian carp (Carassius carassius) muscle when boiling with water. The method can potentially be used to predict allergic cross-reactivity among fish species, provide advice and guidance to individuals with a history of seafood allergy, and ensure food safety in the food allergy community.
Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) can be metabolized into hydroxylated PCBs (OH-PCBs) that exhibit greater toxicity than their parent compounds. In particular, 2,2′,4,5,5′-pentachlorobiphenyl (PCB ...101) is commonly found in chicken feeds and breeding environments, although information on the biotransformation of this PCB in chickens is lacking. In this study, the hydroxylation metabolization of PCB 101 was assessed based on in vitro trials with Sanhuang chicken liver microsomes and in vivo experiments with Hy-Line Brown hens. The para-substituted metabolite 4′-OH-PCB 101 is the predominant metabolite of PCB 101. 4′-OH-PCB 101 is preferentially retained in the chicken bloodstream and partly distributed into different tissues of laying hens. The blood–brain barrier can effectively prevent the OH-PCB from entering the brain, and the adipose tissue contains a relatively low residue concentration of the OH-PCB. The laying hen can deplete the OH-PCB via laying eggs and excrement. The ratio of 4′-OH-PCB 101/PCB 101 in egg yolk is about 1:2. These results first provide definite evidence for the previous hypothesis of the PCB 101 metabolism by chickens. They could assist in predicting the environmental fate of PCBs, and in the risk assessment of PCBs and OH-PCBs in chicken-based foodstuffs.
•From 2005 to 2021, food safety policies exhibited a cyclical evolutionary pattern.•In terms of quantity, local governments are crucial in issuing food safety policies.•Cumulative policy power and ...policy number suppress problematic food incidents.•Regional development and policy efficacy boundaries affect problematic food curbing.•Dynamic and differentiated governance strategies should be implemented.
Governments use policy interventions to mitigate food safety risks. Despite its crucial role, empirical studies evaluating the effectiveness of China's food safety policy tools are scarce. Drawing on a dataset encompassing 11,236 food safety policy texts from 2005 to 2021 and the incidence of problematic food products in the Eastern, Central, and Western regions of China, this study employs Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) and eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) models to facilitate the classification of policy tools and forecast the effectiveness of policy combinations. The study reveals that (1) local governments have gradually become an important supplementary maker of food safety policies, and have issued an increasing number of policy tools year by year. (2) Mandatory policy tools are predominant in number and have the highest legal hierarchy and authority levels, followed successively by guiding policy and voluntary policy tools. (3) Mandatory policy tools demonstrated the most effective intervention results, followed successively by guiding policy and voluntary policy tools. (4) The forecast analysis reveals that combinations of policies within high-growth frameworks and those driven by mandatory regulations emerge as the most effective. Therefore, the balance of policy tools in terms of type, effectiveness, and quantity, as well as their applicability in different situations, should all be taken into account.
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