Chapter 16 - Food Contact Materials

Chapter 19 - Food Contact Materials

Food safety vs health and safety

The burden of foodborne diseases and their associated illness/death is a global concern. Hazard analysis and critical control points (HACCP) and food safety/quality management are employed to combat this problem. With the existing and emerging food safety/quality management concerns, this study aims to evaluate the traditional and modern/novel approach to improving HACCP, food safety, and quality management in food and agricultural systems. The modern innovations in food safety management were integrated into improving the traditional HACCP system, including its principles, applications, steps, plans, standards, etc., as well as food safety factors and management, for improved safety/quality in food, agricultural, and pharmaceutical industries. The study identified many factors responsible for food contamination, including chemical contaminants, such as allergens, histamine, cyanogenic glycosides, mycotoxins, toxic elements, etc., biological contaminants, such as Campylobacter, Brucella, viruses, Escherichia coli, prions, Staphylococcus aureus, Listeria monocytogenes, protozoa, parasitic pathogens, etc., and physical contaminants, such as bone, glass, metal, personal effects, plastic, stones, wood, etc. The results of this study present descriptive preliminary HACCP steps, HACCP principles, safe food handling procedures, ISO 22000, Water quality management, food labelling, etc., with recent modern developments and innovations to ensure food safety and quality management. The study also identified modern/novel technologies for HACCP and food safety management, including light technologies, artificial intelligence (AI), novel freezing (isochoric freezing), automation, and software for easy detection and control of contaminants. With all these understanding and development, the domestic, food, agricultural, and pharmaceutical industries can be well position to ensure safety and quality of products.

Food contact materials have high societal importance due to their influence on food quality and safety. In the food chain production, food matrix may interfere with many types of materials, particularly with food packaging. During the last decades, the concerns related to food packaging (especially plastics) and the migration of chemicals from food contact materials increased significantly, being affected by the nature and complexity of the food, the contact time and temperature, the type of food packaging material and the molecular size of the migrators. Some of these migrators are toxic and/or have endocrine disrupting activity. This overview reveals recent data (since 2015) about food contact materials as a source of food chemical contamination, their compliance in Europe, the analytical characterization of chemicals migrating from food contact materials as well the human exposure to such chemicals. There are mentioned the most recent scientific articles and experimental data on these topics, available from official, public reports or web sources. The major point in defining shortcomings in the current food contact risk assessment mechanism and legislation is that safety of food contact materials is currently less guaranteed due to different risk assessment, authorization processes across the Europe and their problematic enforcement.

Against the backdrop of intensified globalization and complex supply chains, food quality management faces three major challenges: insufficient real-time monitoring capabilities, information silos and traceability difficulties, and weak data collaboration and risk prediction capabilities. This article focuses on the practical applications and impact of distributed technologies such as blockchain, Internet of Things, and federated learning in food quality and safety management. This article explores how to break down information barriers while ensuring data security, achieve real-time data monitoring and collaboration, and effectively address key challenges such as traceability, intelligent production optimization, and quality control in the process of food production, processing, and transportation. The synergy of these technologies creates a comprehensive framework for data flow: IoT ensures accurate data collection, FL enables efficient analysis and risk prediction under privacy protection, and BC ensures transparent and reliable data sharing. This article also analyzes the collaborative and complementary relationships between these technologies, analyzing their challenges and potential solutions. This comprehensive review systematically examines the technological synergies and complementarities among blockchain (BC), Internet of Things (IoT), and federated learning (FL), revealing how their integration creates emergent capabilities that address fundamental trade-offs in food safety management. By establishing a sound mechanism for information sharing and synergy, the integration and application of these technologies will help build an intelligent, efficient, and trustworthy modern food safety management system, providing innovative ideas and development directions for food safety governance.

La restauración en el turismo se ha convertido en un producto de alto consumo y junto a ello la necesidad de una adecuada gestión de inocuidad, puesto que más importante que la ambientación, el servicio e incluso los precios, es sin lugar a dudas la calidad del producto. La gestión de la inocuidad ha sido implementada en diversos escenarios, mediante la aplicación del sistema APPCC, pero las investigaciones sobre el tema con un enfoque en la gestión por procesos han sido muy escasas; por lo que el objetivo de la presente investigación consistió en implementar el diccionario de actividades a la gestión de la inocuidad en un restaurante del polo turístico de Varadero, Cuba. El estudio se justifica en la relevancia de la garantía de la inocuidad de los alimentos para los clientes, teniendo una elevada repercusión en su retorno al restaurante y en su opinión sobre la calidad del destino turístico. La investigación asumió como bases metodológicas las propuestas de Nogueira (2002) para la mejora de procesos y de Trischler (1998) para el análisis del valor añadido; donde fueron aplicadas distintas herramientas como la encuesta, braimstorming, mapa de procesos, diagramas As-Is y la ficha de proceso. El estudio se llevó a cabo en un restaurante del polo turístico de Varadero, Cuba durante los meses de enero a mayo. La investigación detectó en el estudio la existencia de un alto número de actividades que no aportan valor a la garantía de la inocuidad, además posibilitó la propuesta de 3 indicadores como soporte a la gestión del restaurante. Se concluye que la aplicación del diccionario de actividades constituye una herramienta que mejora el proceso de gestión de la inocuidad. La concepción del diccionario facilita la identificación de las actividades que aportan valor en términos de inocuidad, lo que tributa a la eficiencia del proceso y constituye el aporte de la presente investigación.

Food safety challenges, such as mycotoxin contamination, pose severe threats to public health, agricultural productivity, and economic development across Sub-Saharan African countries and beyond. This study investigated whether government policies related to food safety adequately address these concerns, using Malawi as a case study. We systematically reviewed 29 government-authored policy documents related to food safety. These documents were categorized into six sectors: Agriculture, Environment, Nutrition, Health, Trade and Industry, and Education. Our analysis revealed critical gaps in addressing mycotoxin concerns in these policies, with only 4 of the 29 policy documents (14 %) addressing food safety and mycotoxin management. In contrast, 13 policy documents (45 %) did not address these issues at all, while 12 policy documents (41 %) focused solely on food safety management without addressing mycotoxin contamination. Notably, Malawi's long-term development blueprint, Malawi 2063 , does not include mycotoxin management, underscoring a critical policy gap and broader systemic challenges in integrating food safety and mycotoxin control into national frameworks. Furthermore, Malawi lacks a dedicated sector responsible for food safety and a comprehensive national food safety policy to coordinate efforts in mycotoxin control. While this study centers on Malawi, the findings resonate globally, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa and other countries with similar agricultural and economic contexts. Addressing these systemic policy gaps is vital for developing integrated food safety frameworks that combat mycotoxin contamination, strengthen sustainable food systems, enhance public health, and foster economic resilience. These findings also provide a replicable model for policy analysis, contributing to international discourse by emphasizing the importance of aligning food safety governance with global development priorities, such as the Sustainable Development Goals.

A case is made for greater emphasis to be placed on value chain management as an alternative to geographically based disease risk mitigation for trade in commodities and products derived from animals. The geographic approach is dependent upon achievement of freedom in countries or zones from infectious agents that cause so-called transboundary animal diseases, while value chain-based risk management depends upon mitigation of animal disease hazards potentially associated with specific commodities or products irrespective of the locality of production. This commodity-specific approach is founded on the same principles upon which international food safety standards are based, viz. hazard analysis critical control points (HACCP). Broader acceptance of a value chain approach enables animal disease risk management to be combined with food safety management by the integration of commodity-based trade and HACCP methodologies and thereby facilitates 'farm to fork' quality assurance. The latter is increasingly recognized as indispensable to food safety assurance and is therefore a pre-condition to safe trade. The biological principles upon which HACCP and commodity-based trade are based are essentially identical, potentially simplifying sanitary control in contrast to current separate international sanitary standards for food safety and animal disease risks that are difficult to reconcile. A value chain approach would not only enable more effective integration of food safety and animal disease risk management of foodstuffs derived from animals but would also ameliorate adverse environmental and associated socio-economic consequences of current sanitary standards based on the geographic distribution of animal infections. This is especially the case where vast veterinary cordon fencing systems are relied upon to separate livestock and wildlife as is the case in much of southern Africa. A value chain approach would thus be particularly beneficial to under-developed regions of the world such as southern Africa specifically and sub-Saharan Africa more generally where it would reduce incompatibility between attempts to expand and commercialize livestock production and the need to conserve the subcontinent's unparalleled wildlife and wilderness resources.

HACCP为英文Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point的缩略词，在我国大陆译做危害分析–关键控制点监控。作为一种管理手段，其核心内容是由HA(危害分析)和CCP(关键控制点)监控二个部分组成的。嗨塞坡(HACCP)是目前世界上最有权威的食品安全预防体系，而随着我国经济和社会的持续快速发展，与世界各国贸易往来日益增加，嗨塞坡则起到食品进出国际市场的“绿色通行证”的作用。早些年，各国政府已向食品企业推出GMP和ISO 9000族系列标准等质量管理体系；现在大力倡导的嗨塞坡，其管理思想与之是一脉相承的。但诞生嗨塞坡思想理论，同研发太空食品有密切的联系，是人类载人航天事业的产物；倡导采用嗨塞坡原理保证食品的安全性，使食品安全管理进入了嗨塞坡时代，则是一个巨大的飞跃，是我国食品安全管理的工作创新。食品安全师是指具备食品安全管理的相关知识，运用相关技术方法按国家标准实施食品安全管理的从业人员。其职能主要就在于对于食品的安全性实施监督管理。我国政府向食品企业推荐嗨塞坡，中国食品工业协会则有效开展嗨塞坡教育培训，大力开展食品安全师队伍的建设，就是从组织上在普及推广嗨塞坡体系提供保证。此是其为食企服务的工作创新。 HACCP is the abbreviation of Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point. As an management means, its core content is composed by HA (Hazard Analysis) and CCP (Critical Control Point). HACCP is the most authoritative food safety system in the world, along with stable and rapid development of economy and society in our country and in-creasing trade with other countries all over the world, now HACCP has been regarded as green pass for entering the international market. GMP and ISO 9000 were recommended to food enterprises as food safety system by government of some countries in earlier years, and now HACCP is advocated, but their management ideas are derived from the same origin. The emerge of the HACCP theory was connected with research and development of space food, and which is the product of human manned space. Now HACCP is advocated to ensure the safety of the food, and thus makes food safety management to entered the era of HACCP, this is a work innovation in food safety management. Food safety management division is the employee who has relevant knowledge about food safety management, and can implement food safety management with the relevant technology and methods according to the national standard. Their main func-tion is food safety supervision and management. HACCP was advocated to food enterprises by government of our country, China Food Association strengthened the food safety management division staff through effective education and training, and thus providing a guarantee for popularizing HACCP from the organization. And this is a work innova-tion of serving for food enterprises.

HACCP为英文Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point的缩略词，在我国大陆译做危害分析–关键控制点监控。作为一种管理手段，其核心内容是由HA(危害分析)和CCP(关键控制点)监控二个部分组成的。嗨塞坡(HACCP)是目前世界上最有权威的食品安全预防体系，而随着我国经济和社会的持续快速发展，与世界各国贸易往来日益增加，嗨塞坡则起到食品进出国际市场的“绿色通行证”的作用。早些年，各国政府已向食品企业推出GMP和ISO 9000族系列标准等质量管理体系；现在大力倡导的嗨塞坡，其管理思想与之是一脉相承的。但诞生嗨塞坡思想理论，同研发太空食品有密切的联系，是人类载人航天事业的产物；倡导采用嗨塞坡原理保证食品的安全性，使食品安全管理进入了嗨塞坡时代，则是一个巨大的飞跃，是我国食品安全管理的工作创新。食品安全师是指具备食品安全管理的相关知识，运用相关技术方法按国家标准实施食品安全管理的从业人员。其职能主要就在于对于食品的安全性实施监督管理。我国政府向食品企业推荐嗨塞坡，中国食品工业协会则有效开展嗨塞坡教育培训，大力开展食品安全师队伍的建设，就是从组织上在普及推广嗨塞坡体系提供保证。此是其为食企服务的工作创新。 HACCP is the abbreviation of Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point. As an management means, its core content is composed by HA (Hazard Analysis) and CCP (Critical Control Point). HACCP is the most authoritative food safety system in the world, along with stable and rapid development of economy and society in our country and in-creasing trade with other countries all over the world, now HACCP has been regarded as green pass for entering the international market. GMP and ISO 9000 were recommended to food enterprises as food safety system by government of some countries in earlier years, and now HACCP is advocated, but their management ideas are derived from the same origin. The emerge of the HACCP theory was connected with research and development of space food, and which is the product of human manned space. Now HACCP is advocated to ensure the safety of the food, and thus makes food safety management to entered the era of HACCP, this is a work innovation in food safety management. Food safety management division is the employee who has relevant knowledge about food safety management, and can implement food safety management with the relevant technology and methods according to the national standard. Their main func-tion is food safety supervision and management. HACCP was advocated to food enterprises by government of our country, China Food Association strengthened the food safety management division staff through effective education and training, and thus providing a guarantee for popularizing HACCP from the organization. And this is a work innova-tion of serving for food enterprises.

Food safety risk during the pandemic

Since the advent of commercial production of Food Contact Materials (FCM) and their extensive use in day to day life, many harmful effects on health were reported to be caused due to ingestion of food contaminated with constituents that migrated from FCM. Over the years, this aspect of food safety from FCM rose to be an important research interest and thus added scientific information on FCM. Based on the scientific evidence and new issues being raised (E.g. BPA replaced by other substances), these regulations are also being molded from time to time across the world. Therefore this review aims at providing an overview of regulations and amendments on FCM in various countries with emphasis on important aspects (e.g. traceability and safeguard measures of EU framework regulations, Food contact notification of USFDA, etc.) in FCM laws. Hereunder, for a better understanding of these regulations, various countries reviewed in this article are grouped into 3 categories, i.e. – countries having 1) specific regulations 2) Non- specific/ few regulations 3) No data available on FCM regulations. Though these regulations differed from one country to other, all were formulated with a primary objective, of ensuring consumer food safety. This review will not only help in ensuring food safety but also helps in, to strengthen regulatory framework and grow in trade, fulfilling the gaps with global FCM regulations.

Cultural revolution

This review focuses on highlighting the roles played by some stakeholders to ascertain food safety and quality from the farm to the fork in Kenya and the legislations under which they operate. Necessary recommendations to strengthen the weak links along the food supply chain have also been made. Food is considered to be safe if there is reasonable demonstrated certainty that no harm will result from its consumption under anticipated conditions of use. In Kenya, the responsibility for coordinating the multiple institutions (agencies) involved in food safety management rests on the Department of Public Health (DPH) under the Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation. The basic Kenyan laws for food safety enforced by DPH include the Food, Drugs and Substances Act, Chapter 254, the Public Health Act, Chapter 242 and the Meat Control Act, Chapter 316. Food-borne diseases are still a major problem in Kenya because of the enormous informal sector in the food industry accounting for at least 80% of the supply to the domestic markets where hygiene controls are rudimentary. Most Kenyan standards are adopted from international ones, such as International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC). In the food supply chain, farmers have to apply Good Agricultural Practices, sellers of commodities/raw materials at local or international level have to apply Good Distribution Practices, and manufacturers have to apply Good Manufacturing Practices. Food supply chain operators have to apply either national (mandatory) standards or private (voluntary) standards. Chain supporters provide the necessary impetus while chain enablers provide the control and/or regulation. Kenya Bureau of Standards is the major chain enabler. It is the National Codex Contact Point, serves as the secretariat of the National Codex Committee, and is the National Enquiry Point of the WTO. Despite the existing legal framework for food safety and quality controls, some processed food products in the Kenyan market are of sub-standard quality. The informal sector must be keenly monitored by the food safety agencies to uphold the application of HACCP and fair trade since it is the major supplier of food products to the domestic markets. Safety and quality management in the food supply chain has cost implications and income is a limiting factor for all the stakeholders and the success of food safety management system. Poverty alleviation would stimulate the purchasing power of domestic consumers, consequently promoting hygiene-based demand instead of price-based demand for food.

The study focused on evaluating food health and safety management practices in urban restaurants, highlighting challenges in meeting public health requirements. The specific objectives were to examine implemented safety management strategies, assess the knowledge of employees (specifically waiters) regarding safety management, and recommend effective strategies for safety management in selected restaurants. Utilizing a mixed-methods approach involving both quantitative and qualitative methods, the study involved a population of 60, with a sample size of 52 chosen through purposive sampling. Closed-ended questionnaires were employed for data collection, and the analysis incorporated descriptive statistics, presenting findings through graphs and charts. Results indicated that 18.75% of respondents demonstrated "Very Good" knowledge of food health and safety management, with 9.38% rated as "Good," 34.38% as "Average," and 37.50% as "Below Average." The study emphasized the importance of proper communication and effective training in food health and safety management for restaurant management. The research provided a comprehensive exploration of food safety practices, encompassing educational backgrounds, workforce roles, safety management strategies, knowledge levels, and recommendations. The findings underscored the necessity for targeted training initiatives, robust induction processes, and effective communication strategies. Continuous monitoring and evaluation mechanisms were recommended to ensure the sustained success of food health and safety practices in urban restaurants.