With an increasing population, rapid urbanization and rise of the middle class, the demand for processed food is increasing significantly, and thus presents inherent risks for food safety and sustainability.

Source - Food Safety and Trade Liberalization in an Age of Globalization - UNU Collections

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In developing countries, food safety is a great concern. General people are less concerns about this issue. Moreover, as food demand increases worldwide, food-borne diseases are also observed in a larger percentage. Food handling, processing, as well as contamination (intentional or unintentional) need to be handled in a proper ways. Consciousness of general people, responsibility of food processing industries and the ruling body are the key factors to ensure the safety of food.

It is worth recalling that regulation in the area of food quality and safety protection was emerged with the

objectives of safeguarding consumers from both economic and health risks and to ensure the functioning of food

markets in an orderly manner by prohibiting the production and sale of unsafe food products and fraudulent

acts committed on foods. Ensuring the quality and safety of domestically produced, exported and imported food

and food products constitutes one of the areas of food quality and safety protection. This is with an

assumption that maintaining the quality of these foods is essential to protect public health, to satisfy the

expectation of consumers, and to enhance foreign earnings and to maintain the confidence of food trading

partners.

Food safety is an increasing demand in both developing, middle class and developed world with a lot of infections outbreaks and so many disaster in the world. It is imperative to safe lives through proper handling and processing of foods. Food preservatives should be carefully selected because that is one of the major cause of increasing cases of cancers especially in the developing countries now.

In matters food safety, the lesser the information/data on the current status, the bigger the problem. If you don't know the status of food safety in any context, then you can't plan to address the real issues or even prioritize resource allocation. Developing countries face severe shortage of information and data on food safety risks, which is key to implementing a successful food safety programme. The place to start is, in my opinion, establishing the status and the risks. This calls for proper reporting of all food borne illnesses under a structured programme and proper risk assessment studies to provide data to inform decisions on intervention measures.

Avoid processed foods and buy local produce as much as possible

The queston asked is a very complex one, as our current food systems are. The answer can't really be unique and uniform. Changes are needed but they must take into account each territory needs and constraints. A training program as been designed in Montpellier, France, by Cirad and Montpellier SupAgro to be able to understand the complexity and to assess the variety of changes that could be possible. You can find more information about this program on this website : http://urlz.fr/6R1l. It is labelled by Unseco Chair on food systems : http://www.chaireunesco-adm.com/La-Chaire. Also, I recommend the reading of the HLPE on Food security and nutrition reports : http://www.fao.org/cfs/cfs-hlpe/reports/en/ ; in each of these reports, one can find recommendations and adapt them to its specific context.

I agree with dear Dr. Audrey Misrahi about high complexity in providing security of a supply food chain management. However, I don't think that "The answer can't really be unique and uniform.". It depends on the level of a solution. The top importance level here is the security of human population consuming processed food - it is an International global security problem comparable with security against accidental armed conflicts, vital and critical information networks security, and numerous other global security problems.

Hence, similar to other global security issues - first thing to do is to establish International security policies and an International body empowered for its control and implementation. Then, there should be developed a thorough list of existing vulnerabilities and the following threat analyses, leading to revelation of the critical risk factors to be taken care of. There are other steps related to standard security procedures that could become relevant, if the whole this concept as the only global solution to this problem is generally accepted. I think, it is just a matter of time.

Several international organizations have adopted food safety agreements (up to 2020, some of which are included) in their conferences, seminars, studies and bilateral agreements, and between countries and continents, none of which was linked to each other or to international trade,

Some strategies should be short-term and long-term, to bridge the gap between the rapid inclusion of food, pharmaceutical and health products and accompanying equipment, without providing studies on biosafety and food security

Strategic Plan 2016-2020* DG Health & Food Safety *The current Commission's term of office runs until 31 October 2019. New political orientations provided by the incoming Commission for the subsequent period will be appropriately reflected in the strategic planning process. "Promoting health and food safety – supporting growth and competitiveness" The mission of DG Health and Food Safety (DG SANTE) is to: • Improve and protect human health, and support the modernisation of Europe's health systems; • Ensure that all food, feed and medicinal products marketed in the EU are safe and that EU standards are promoted globally; • Protect animal health and welfare and plant health; • Contribute to a well-functioning and fair internal market in food, feed, agricultural and medical products. https://www.food-safetyconference.co.uk/ WHO Reviewed in October 2017 Food safety ( Fact sheet) http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs399/en/ http://www.who.int/foodsafety/en/ https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/files/strategic-plan-2016-2020-dg-sante_may2016_en_1.pdf https://ec.europa.eu/food/overview_en https://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topics-objectives/topic/food-safety

In the USA, we have a Federal Agency that controls it. In developing countries and other countries, such controls are suspect at best. I don’t believe it can be controlled effectively.

Food security all the way.

A stronger enforcement of food safety regulations is needed.

I agree with dear Dr Debra Sharon Ferdinand-James

Please look at pending file.I hope it useful:

A detail regulations about food safety is of utmost importance.

The challenge of protecting consumers from unsafe food deserves special and intensive analysis in the era of expanding globalization. Safety concerns over imported products are likely to increase with international trade as the flow of goods moving across borders continues to expand. National regulatory system for monitoring domestic producers have been in place around the world to address the same kind of risks that arise from unsafe imports, Even in developed countries with longstanding regulatory regimes, domestic products can be as dangerous as any import. In this context, a global system of delegated governance that in the aggregate, pursues consumer protection by combining targeted public action with private inspections, public and private standard-setting, and a degree of dependence on consumers to take some responsibility for their own safety, may tackle the challenge effectively.

Dear Dr. YOGESH CHANDRA TRIPATHI,

I think it is a very interesting idea about "... a global system of delegated governance that in the aggregate, pursues consumer protection by combining targeted public action with private inspections, public and private standard-setting, and a degree of dependence on consumers to take some responsibility for their own safety, may tackle the challenge effectively."

Global International control functions across borders is a feasible and tangible idea not only for a food control function but also for limiting drugs trafficking, arms contraband, and some other vitally important areas.

A point that none of you seem to have noticed is that, although food scares are increasing with the help of the media, the actual number of food poisoning cases, while still too high for something that could be prevented by correct food handlng procedures, has substantially decreased at least in the EU, due to what is often percieved as too stringent regulation; for example Salmonella occurences in France have been cut by half since 2001 (BEH may 2012). And a lot of them are not due to industrial foods but to mishandling at home or in small scale processing. See for example BEH http://invs.santepubliquefrance.fr/Publications-et-outils/BEH-Bulletin-epidemiologique-hebdomadaire

n°3 (2018) for botulism,

The lesser the risk, the higher the sensitivity of the public.

You are right Dear Catherine; strict adherence of good food hygiene and food handling practices before, during and after food preparation or processing at various scales and before eating is one of the most effective ways to curb food-borne ailing incidents.

I suggest you these links,I hope be helpful:

https://ec.europa.eu/food/overview_en

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_safety

Have we asked Watson? Would be very interesting to see how AI and complex integrated modeling systems could be used to answer questions like this one.

Food safety, nutrition and food security are inextricably linked. Unsafe food creates a vicious cycle of disease and malnutrition, particularly affecting infants, young children, elderly and the sick.

You are right Dear Joanna, It's a vital issue and general agreement between developed and developing countries though not an easy thing, but warranted.

Interesting responses and answers.

Food safety in the EU has a good concept, multidisciplinary approach, but it is difficult to implement all food safety requirements in countries preparing for EU accession (eg laboratory food control, institutional and legal frameworks, inspections, etc.).

Effective quality control mechanism, well functioning regulatory bodies and and a dedicated monitoring system at each and every level of food processing, packaging, storage, transportation and marketing are sufficient enough to ensure safe, healthy and nutritious food supply.

Nice question.

The era of trade liberalization not only produced better economic outcomes, but also reduced hunger and famine, and enhanced food security all during a period of rapid population increase.In regards to supply chain management, globalization refers to the process in which a business operates on an international scale. Globalization trade offers companies the opportunity to reach new customers in new markets, which dramatically upsets how manufacturers need to operate to be successful. The main pillars of supply chain management generally have been production, transportation, storage and demand planning and management. But global supply chain management adds many more factors, including culture, language and currency differences, not to mention geopolitical risk and cyber security. Supply chain complexity is caused by a variety of factors often the result of rising customer expectations for faster lead times, expanded products and services, and tailored experiences. However, the globalization has created gaps in safety in the food supply chain and as a result, recalls are increasing. Food production, warehousing, transportation and supply chain technology has all evolved to close these gaps.Globalizations means that food cultures are on the move; they are being displaced from their roots and are often forming new hybrid cultures when they interact with other food traditions. In addition to driving the worldwide spread of fast food, globalization has led to an increase in large multinational supermarkets, which are displacing fresh food markets and farms and increasing access to processed and packaged foods and sugary beverages.