I feel privileged to contribute to the upcoming conference organized by IFA/Tulln – BOKU under the leadership of Professor Rudolf Krska, and related to Innovation in Food and Feed Safety – Education, Risk Analysis and Novel Technologies. This event is held on April 5th, 2016 in Tulln Austria.

This is a model for open scientific events to share the latest developments and to introduce a number of multi-year initiatives in research and capacity development in food safety and quality. In particular, the project MyToolBox, aiming to foster a set of tools to assess and mitigate risks associated with Mycotoxins in food, will be introduced, as a major EU food safety funded initiative with global outreach.

It is also our opportunity at the Department of Food Science (Faculty of Agriculture and Food Science) of University Laval, Québec, QC (Canada) and at the Institute of Nutrition and Functional Foods, to engage with and learn from peer institutions with the aim to foster collaborations in our areas of development:  food risk analysis and competency development domestically and internationally.

The proposed agenda for the conference is attached:

As part of today’s World Health Day celebration, which this year is dedicated to food safety, there is a clear acknowledgement of the public health implications and the burden of disease associated with food safety incidents.

Lower food safety standards and repeated food safety incidents
have a negative impact on countries’ gross domestic products (GDP) and
contribute to weakening the competitive position of producers, particularly in
countries where the agriculture and the agri-food sectors plays a significant
role in the economy, which is the case of most developing nations.

Unreliable food safety systems deepen the gap between so-called
developed and developing nations.

In a global food supply chain, where sourcing of ingredients
covers the entire world, disparities in food safety management measures
increase costs to operators because of trust issues, which translate into additional prevention control mechanisms and remediation measures. This in turn, contributes to potential trade disruptions and barriers. Furthermore, when
remediation measures are taken hastily as a result of a food safety crisis, even with the intent to upgrade capacity, they may be made too restrictive, not being risk-based and not necessarily in line with international standards.

It is therefore easy to see how investing in food safety capacity building results in real savings, both to public health and to the economy.

Investing proactively in food safety capacity building makes good business sense.

Hopefully, with this year’s momentum thanks to the World Health Day being dedicated to Food Safety, we will witness increased interest in our collective ability to invest in global initiatives such as the World Bank’ Global Food Safety Partnership (GFSP), as a key convener and catalyst for
greater capacity building in food safety worldwide.

In this issue, we can find the latest updates from community members on regulatory measures related to allergen labeling, testing methodologies and their validation as well as updates on recent food allergen meetings.

Thanks to the Editorial team for their continued support and their leadership !

I had the privilege of contributing to an expert panel discussion held under the auspices of the stakeholder group advising AOAC International on food standard development. The panel discussion was held ahead of AOAC’s annual meeting on Sept. 7th. I was accompanied on this panel by two illustrious colleagues and food safety experts, Dr. David Acheson (Acheson Group) and Dr. Bob Bracket ( Institute for Food Safety and Health). This was an opportunity to discuss drivers of change governing food safety and leading to emerging food safety issues. These efforts are part of an on-going discussion undertaken by AOAC and its stakeholder community leading to consider food safety as an area of focus for its food-related method development and validation initiatives.
My contribution focused on emerging issues associated with food chemical safety and the newly introduced notion of nutrition safety.

For more information on the AOAC Food Safety initiative, please contact Dawn Frazier, Executive for scientific business development.

A few months ago, Food Standards Australia New-Zealand (FSANZ) has made available a document outlining its approach in developing food standards, following a risk analysis approach.

The document entitled “Risk Analysis in Food Regulations” provides an excellent overview of FSANZ’s approach in addressing various food safety and nutrition hazards within the mandate of this bi-national food safety regulator, including the identification of food hazards and the associated risks, the assessment of these risks and the development of risk management measures and their implementation.

The reader of this document will rapidly note that FSANZ’s approach is very much aligned with the international food risk analysis principles adopted by the Codex Alimentarius Commission.

I was privileged to be given the opportunity to be one of the peer reviewers of this document, prior to its publication in January 2014. I consider this document as an excellent reference for food regulators and food stakeholders alike.

FSANZ is to be commanded for its enhanced transparency efforts and its leadership in making such a reference document available to all of us.