A Circulation Management Model for Safer Food Supply Based on RFID

From the Chief Executive and <scp>IFST</scp> News

PurposeFood markets are characterized by asymmetric information between suppliers and consumers, which causes inefficiency of market and food safety risks. This paper studies how the food quality and safety information disclosed by the government affects the hazard analysis and critical control point (HACCP) certification decision of meat producers. The heterogeneity of the effects across different regions, provinces with different meat output scales and provinces with different intensities of food safety regulation is evaluated.Design/methodology/approachThis paper applies a unique database comprising information from multiple sources. Food quality and safety information disclosure is indicated by the number of failure records of food sampling inspections by the government in 2015–2018. Fixed-effect model is used in the analyses.FindingsThe results demonstrate that food quality and safety information disclosure has a significant effect on the HACCP certification adoption by meat producers. The effect is heterogeneous across geographic regions, i.e. this effect is larger in the east and the middle of China than that in the west and the northeast. The heterogeneity across regions may be caused by the variance in meat output scales and fiscal expenditures on food safety among provinces.Originality/valueThis research is one of the preliminary attempts to understand how producers respond in terms of HACCP certification to the amount of food quality and safety information disclosed by the government, based on the case of meat industry in China.

Food safety is back on the menu

Preventive Strategy Against Infectious Diarrhea—A Holistic Approach

Cultural revolution

Position of the American Dietetic Association: Food and Water Safety

Public Health Measures: Challenges of Developing Countries in Management of Food Safety

Marion Nestle, author of a recently acclaimed book on food politics, has written a new book devoted to food safety. It is addressed to general readers as well as scientists who wish to know more about the issues underlying disputes about the safety of our food supply but who lack prior knowledge about the food industry, its lobbying and marketing strategies, or the political regulation of food supply and public health. Nestle’s decision to write this book appears to have been partly inspired by the extensive media coverage in recent years given to food scandals, food-borne human diseases, fears with regard to genetically modified foods, and, recently, consideration of the vulnerability of food and water supplies to terrorist activity. This new book presents the thesis that food safety is a political issue. Sections on pathogens in the food supply and food biotechnology are followed by a concluding section that summarizes the main arguments, reviews the reasons why the food supply might serve as a medium of terrorist activity, and makes a number of grounded recommendations regarding the future of food safety. A safe food, according to Nestle, is “one that does not exceed an acceptable level of risk” (p. 16). Decisions about acceptability, it is argued, involve opinions and values, as well as science. For this reason, a “science-based” approach to food safety, which balances risk against benefits and costs and contributes to the estimation of risk, is distinguished from a “value-based” approach focused on the acceptability of risk, which tends to balance risk against dreaded outcomes or feelings of outrage. This point is not presented here in the familiar form of a distinction between expert and lay perceptions of risk. The author recognizes the fact that scientific questions do not arise in value-free contexts and that value-based approaches often consider scientific arguments. The argument is rather that when commercial interests are at stake in decisions about the acceptability of risks, these decisions unavoidably become political issues. Nestle points out that it is often difficult to distinguish science-based from value-based aspects of conflicting policies. Most of the book is accordingly devoted to examining actual disputes about food safety in a manner that distinguishes these aspects. Nestle has sought to write a balanced book rather than a political manifesto. Her perspective is that of a trained scientist and professional nutritionist with considerable experience in consultancy and other dealings with both the food industry and public authorities engaged in the tasks of regulating the safety of food supplies. Nestle is critical of players in both of these fields. She claims and seeks to demonstrate that food companies tend to accord priority to commercial interests rather than consumer protection, even to the point of strongly resisting public policies designed to control pathogens in the food supply, while government agencies often tend to support business interests at the expense of public health. These views are controversial and are unlikely to convince all stakeholders in food safety issues. Nevertheless, they are presented in a series of carefully documented cases, likely to prove useful to readers who approach the text with a view to making up their minds and irritating to those who feel themselves criticized. It is balanced in the sense that one cannot claim that Nestle disregards science-based arguments regarding the safety of food biotechnology, merely that she respects the legitimacy of value-based concerns about genetically modified foods. These include concerns with regard to the environment, health, and the rights of consumers to choose, which in turn impose demands regarding such issues as contamination, traceability, and labeling. Given the interests at stake in these issues, some readers may wish to interpret this stance as support for the anti-biotechnology lobby. This book should be read and discussed in university departments that prepare students for work in food-related fields. It introduces a range of safety concerns that should become salient issues of discussion in the classroom. Its weaker points include a somewhat narrow focus upon national issues. There is a tendency to equate government agencies with existing U.S. institutions, while suggesting in passing that control systems in some European countries are more effective; equally, there is a tendency to equate science with the natural as opposed to the social sciences, neglecting much relevant social research with regard to globalization, distribution networks, and consumption, as well as such issues as trust and accountability. No book, however, can reasonably be expected to cover the entire field. This one raises many important issues and does it well.

Today, at the global level, special importance is given to the food problem. It is the interweaving of the interests of individual, social groups, society and the world community as a whole in terms of meeting the needs of people in food. Food safety is one of the UN’s global goals for sustainable development and needs to be studied in details.The purpose of the article is the description of the nature of the global food problem, the identification of its impact on food safety, the study of Ukraine’s ranking on the food safety index, the comparative analysis of the values of food safety sub-indices of Ukraine with the average world values, and the establishment of ways to adapt to the new and constantly changing conditions of the global environment.Methodology. The general scientific and special research methods, the method of theoretical generalization, in particular, are used to clarify certain concepts such as «global food problem» and «food safety»; the method of statistical analysis is used to assess the dynamics of Ukraine’s ranking in the Global Food Safety Index (GFSI); the method of comparative analysis of the values of Ukraine’s food safety sub-indices with average world values is applied.Results of the survey shows the existing approaches to the usage of categories «global food problem» and «food security". The assessment of food safety in Ukraine is confirmed on the values of the Global Food Security Index. It is based on the data published annually by The Economist Intelligence.In the analysis of the food, the safety level of the countries on the global index GFSI was found, it shows that in 2018 Ukraine ranked 63rd place out of 113 countries. In terms of food, the safety sub-indices got high scores and they are fixed at tariffs on agricultural imports and the level of urbanization. The average value of the country was obtained by means of social programs of food support of the population, the safety of food supply; the breadth of the product range, the content of nutrients. Ukraine shows constant GDP per capita, access to financial resources for farms, agricultural infrastructure, volatility of agricultural production, food standards.At the same time, the country has low rates in terms of political stability and level of corruption. Based on the comparative analysis of the values of Ukraine’s food safety sub-indices with the average world values, the author determines the possible ways of adaptation to the new and constantly changing conditions of the global environment in order to protect its leading positions in the world market of agricultural products and foodstuffs.Conclusions. The agrarian sector and food industry of Ukraine are able to meet the needs of both in the domestic market and provide leading positions in the world market of agricultural products and food, make a significant contribution to solving the global food problem.At the same time, the admission of Ukraine into the world economic space, the consolidation of globalization processes, trade liberalization need to be adapted to new and constantly changing conditions with further improvement of food standards, the development of agricultural infrastructure, access to financial resources for farms, etc.

The chapter discusses the food quality and safety control system in the Kyrgyz Republic. Specifically, the chapter introduces current socio-economic situation, characterization of the domestic food market, and elements of the national food control system upon adopting a series of new regulations since 2004. The new food safety system is progressively setting up, but there are a number of problems that holds back the implementation of new approaches to the assurance of food safety. These problems are mainly related to the underdeveloped national economy and poor socio-economic status of the population. As a result, a number of urgent measures are proposed concerning strengthening the discipline and responsibility in controlling food supply chain, implementation of widely practiced food quality and specific food safety management and control systems, enhancing analytical capabilities and capacities, wider involvement of the society into food safety control, and increasing skills and competence.KeywordsFood safetyFood qualityFood supply chainKyrgyz Republic

Efforts have been made for global harmonization of food safety regulations among countries through international organizations such as WTO and WHO/FAO. Global harmonization of food safety regulations is becoming increasingly important for Korean consumers because more than half of food and agricultural products are imported and consumed. Through recent reorganization of the Korean government, a consolidated national food safety authority-the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS)-has been established for more efficient food safety control and better communication with consumers. The Automatic Sales Blocking System (ASBS), which blocks the sales of the recalled food products at the point of sale, has been implemented at over 40,000 retail food stores around the nation using state-of-the art information and communication technology (ICT) for faster recall of adulterated food products, and the e-Food Safety Control System has been developed for more efficient monitoring of national food safety surveillance situations. The National Food Safety Information Service was also established for monitoring and collecting food safety information and incidents worldwide, and shares relevant information with all stakeholders. The new approaches adopted by the Korean Food Safety Authority are expected to enhance public trust with regard to food safety issues and expedite the recall process of adulterated products from the market.

The paper scrutinizes the current situation in agricultural production in the Republic of Bulgaria as the sector of the national economy with the greatest significance in food supply and as the most vulnerable in respect to common production menaces and terrorist challenges in particular. It focuses on food quality and safety as the major priority of humanity and the ways of their achievement in the globalizing world starting from the national level plans, decisions and actions. In addition, the connection to the development of tourism in Bulgaria as the most expanding industry in recent years will be considered as well as the importance of risk management in food supply. The following questions are discussed: the importance of agriculture and food safety in the contemporary world; the state-of-art of agricultural production and food safety in the Republic of Bulgaria as a Balkan country and as a member of the European Union; common threats and probable targets of terrorist attacks affecting agricultural and tourism sector and having impacts on food quality and safety; legislation, national and local authorities&amp;rsquo; responsibilities and competences in forecasting and preventing terrorist attacks, especially those considering agricultural produce and tourist services; recommendations for assuring food security in national and international aspects. The conclusion summarizes the findings concerning current and possible future national contributions to global antiterrorist responses. It will stress the crucial issue of international cooperation in counteracting terrorism threats and attacks.

Position of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics: Food and Water Safety

Infant formula safety concerns and consequences in China

Strategically unlearning specific knowledge, behaviors, and practices facilitates product and process innovation, business model evolution, and new market opportunities and is essential to meet emergent supply chain and customer requirements. Indeed, addressing societal concerns such as climate change and net zero means elements of contemporary practice in food supply chains need to be unlearned to ensure new practices are adopted. However, unlearning is a risky process if crucial knowledge is lost, for example, if knowledge is situated in the supply base not the organization itself, or there is insufficient organizational food safety knowledge generation, curation, and management when new practices/processes are designed and implemented. An exploratory, critical review of management and food safety academic and gray literature is undertaken that aims to consider the cycle of unlearning, learning, and relearning in food organizations and supply chains with particular emphasis on organizational innovation, inertia, and the impact on food safety management systems and food safety performance. Findings demonstrate it is critical with food safety practices, such as duration date coding or refrigeration practices, that organizations "unlearn" in a way that does not increase organizational, food safety, or public health risk. This paper contributes to extant literature by highlighting the organizational vulnerabilities that can arise when strategically unlearning to promote sustainability in a food supply context. Mitigating such organizational, food safety, and public health risk means organizations must simultaneously drive unlearning, learning, and relearning as a dynamic integrated knowledge acquisition and management approach. The research implications are of value to academics, business managers, and wider industry.