[2007 Food Safety & Security Summit] Globalization, Societal Changes Impact Industry

Dr. Brackett’s opening statement in his second-day keynote address at the March Food Safety & Security Summit set the global emphasis for the three-day summit on food safety and security challenges facing today’s food and beverage processor and solutions available to them. “Even though we call it the U.S. food safety system, it is in fact, global,” Brackett said.

The summit, owned and produced by Stagnito Communications, with gold sponsorship by QA magazine, also included five seminar tracks focusing on laboratory, quality assurance, operations, food security/defense and foodservice/retail topics; exhibits by industry suppliers; and social and networking opportunities. Held at the Washington D.C. Convention Center, the summit was attended by nearly 16,000 people.

Discussing Food Safety in an Era of Globalization, Brackett began his presentation with discussion of the changes in society that are affecting the industry, including:

• Increased scientific knowledge of foodborne pathogens and detection method sensitivity. “We have increasingly better detection,” Brackett said, including that of determining the location of the pathogen which leads to better cause and effect traceability.
• Technological improvements in processing, transportation and packaging. Brackett advised plants to “use whatever technology you think will work” to increase food safety; in discussing transportation, he noted the speed at which transportation moves today enables a food that was picked that morning to be on a consumer’s table by evening.
• Changing human factors. There are increased numbers of older and younger people and fewer in between, which puts 20 to 25 percent of the U.S. population at risk. There used to be a standard to which manufacturers could produce, he noted, but “there is no longer an average person in our society.” Brackett also noted changes in purchasing and eating habits and increased urban center population, with more ready-to-eat food  purchased outside the home, but people having less knowledge of agriculture in general and any of its inherent risks.
• Increased travel and tourism. “International travel is at an all-time high and is expected to increase,” he said. Because of this we are being exposed to new types of organisms, so once-rare illnesses could now become endemic in our own country. 
• The business impact of industry consolidation and increased international trade brings more food from distant places. Not only are Americans eating a greater variety of foods, and desiring a greater variety of food because of this, but the variety increases the need for still more increasing technology, as the analytical techniques may work with one food but not another — even closely related foods, Brackett said.
  This all leads into today’s era of globalization, which means an increased potential for national and international outbreaks, increasing food safety concerns and intentional contamination. Although there is no evidence that foods coming from abroad are posing any more potential risks, globalization does provide cause for concern. Thus, how the industry ensures food safety in this new world became the substance of the second half of Brackett’s keynote address — as it was the essence of the summit itself.

“Globalization of the food supply means that we (all countries) must share responsibility for food safety throughout the entire food supply chain from producers to consumers,” Brackett said. Because importing countries, including the U.S., have limited abilities to enforce their standards outside their borders, FDA is using risk management strategies to determine relative risk and protect food through risk profiles, electronic review of every shipment, review by FDA personnel, physical exam or sample analysis, and an automated targeting system.

In addition, while traditional port-of-entry inspections can address issues such as pesticide residues, they are not as effective for testing microbial contamination, but Brackett said, the past has shown that during eras of globalization, “new approaches to food safety regulation have emerged following advances in science, markets and increased awareness of food safety risks.” The U.S. can help move this forward through its own efforts at increasing awareness and application of current and upcoming technologies for detection — using risk analysis, adopting HACCP as a basis for new regulation, increasing standards and regulations for food safety hazards, and “sharing this information as broadly and as widely as we can,” he said, “Food safety must not only be tackled at the national level but through closer linkages at the international level.”

Among the challenges that continue to plague global food safety are the differing standards among countries. In order to bring some order and get compliance, any standards that the U.S. decides to set for its imports must follow the World Trade Organization’s Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Measures, which establishes food safety regulations, provides a framework for determining the legitimacy of regulations that restrict trade and resolves potential trade conflicts.

Additional trends that are challenging globalization of the food supply include the variations between countries in the role of science in risk management and of standards in regulations and the capacity and authority of regulatory agencies.

Lisa Lupo is staff editor of QA magazine.