Food Safety Policy Research Articles

Urban-rural divide in foodborne illness in China: what can we learn from the socioeconomic factors?

Background China’s urban-rural divide, though still improving, can be seen from various sectors of the economy. The objective of this study is to explore how socioeconomic factors in and across both urban and rural areas explain the occurrence of foodborne illness in China. Over the last decades, food safety laws and regulations have been established in China, but more understanding about the food safety issues are needed in order to eliminate food safety hazards. Methods This study intends to estimate several panel data models in econometrics to obtain the average partial effects of many socioeconomic factors in and across urban and rural areas on per capita foodborne incidents and patients, respectively. Given the fractional nature of the two dependent variables, fractional probit models are estimated using both the Quasi Maximum Likelihood Estimation (QMLE) and the bootstrap Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE) approaches in addition to the standard estimation of panel data random effects, fixed effects, and Tobit models. China official data on foodborne incident and patient cases in each province and in each year from 2011 to 2018 are obtained from various issues of the China Health Statistical Yearbook. Additional data on 19 socioeconomic variables are obtained from various issues of the China Statistical Yearbook. Results The main results show that socioeconomic factors such as owning TVs, owning refrigerators, consumption expenditures and household income in urban or rural areas explain the per capita foodborne incidents or per capita foodborne patients differently, reflecting differences in people’s food safety awareness, food storage patterns, food markets, and income effects in the urban and rural areas. Socioeconomic factors such as urbanization and primary industry’s share of the gross regional product across areas tend to worsen the food safety problem. Improving regional economies and increasing government spending on public health could reduce the occurrence of foodborne illness. Conclusions It is suggested that governments take into account the social disparities of urban and rural areas when designing and implementing food safety policies. It is also suggested that a holistic approach is needed to resolve food safety issues by combining food safety control and management policies with soil and water management policies.

Microbiological evaluation of minimally processed and marketed fish in popular market of the city of Tepic Nayarit, Mexico Sanitary quality of tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus)

Introduction Foodborne Diseases (FD) are considered a syndrome caused by the ingestion of contaminated food or water with etiological agents in amounts that affect the health of the consumer. These diseases are characterized by the appearance of a variety of gastrointestinal symptoms, ranging from nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain and fever; and in some cases severe complications, such as sepsis, meningitis, abortions, Reiter's syndrome, Guillan Barre syndrome or death (51). Foodborne diseases are established as a major challenge in public health worldwide, due to their high morbidity and mortality. These diseases have, as main population target, groups affecting children, pregnant women and the elderly, leading to economic losses, high costs in health services, implementation and monitoring of food safety policies (2,42,47). Approximately 250 agents causing foodborne diseases have been described, including bacteria, viruses, fungi, parasites, prions, toxins, chemicals and metals (27,42). The most frequent FD are those of biological origin, having mainly as causative agents to bacteria: Salmonella spp., Campylobacter spp., Shigella spp., Vibrio spp., Yersinia spp., Escherichia coli, S. aureus, Aeromonas hydrofila, Bacillus cereus, Clostridium perfringens, Listeria monocytogenes, among others (27,47,51). In recent years, the increase in these diseases has as contributing factors the commercial globalization of food, urbanization, changes in the eating habits of societ

Environmental and Regulatory Concerns During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Results from the Pandemic Food and Stigma Survey.

In this article, we present data from the monthly Pandemic Food and Stigma Survey (PFSS), a nationwide representative sample of adults in the United States designed to identify how the pandemic is affecting concerns about food and the environment. Two surveys were conducted in May and June 2020. Our analysis suggests that the public’s concern about contracting COVID-19 has been high; however, infection with COVID-19 was not the only concern. A majority of respondents remained strongly concerned about environmental issues, such as climate change, while responses to sudden relaxations of environmental and food safety policies varied. We analyze the PFSS data to identify factors associated with concerns about pandemic and environmental regulatory changes. In general, we find that people whose food security has been threatened by COVID-19 remain concerned about relaxation of environmental regulations, and those most inclined to take steps to reduce spread of the virus, such as wearing masks and social distancing, are more concerned about relaxed regulations than those less willing to take mitigating actions.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s10640-020-00438-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Farmers' Willingness to Participate in Agricultural Product Safety Cogovernance and Self-Governance in Jiangsu, China: A Gender Perspective

Over the past two decades, the issues of quality and safety of agricultural products have attracted widespread attention in the People's Republic of China. The purpose of this study was to understand factors that influence farmers' willingness to participate in agricultural product safety cogovernance and self-governance based on a survey of farmers in Jiangsu Province, China. The results show that farmers' willingness to participate in the cogovernance and self-governance of agricultural product safety must be further improved. Among the sampled farmers, 28.93% consider that other farmers' improper agricultural product safety practices have nothing to do with them, and 17.25% claim that they would not want to take part in agricultural product safety trainings. Farmers with a weak appreciation for agricultural product safety hazards, a lack of food safety knowledge, and improper agricultural product safety practices are less willing to participate in cogovernance and self-governance of agricultural product safety. Female farmers are more willing to engage in agricultural product safety training than male farmers; however, their willingness to participate in agricultural product safety cogovernance is lower. The results of this study will be useful in improving food safety policy in China.

Development of a risk-ranking framework to evaluate simultaneously biological and chemical hazards related to food safety: Application to emerging dietary practices in France

The objective of this study was to develop a structured and transparent framework to rank emerging dietary practices. The first challenge was to rank simultaneously biological and chemical hazards using the same criteria whatever the nature of the hazard. For a list of dietary practices selected based on the results of a survey, hazard identification and health effect characterization was carried out. Taking only the top five practices led to the identification of 41 triplets “emerging dietary practice – hazard – health effect”, which highlights the complexity of scoring risk in food safety. A wide variety of hazards, including microbes, parasites, mycotoxins, allergens and other chemical compounds were considered together with a range of health effects such as foodborne pathogen disease, anaphylaxis, cancer, immunosuppression, endocrine disturbance, etc. The second challenge was to develop a framework easy to populate and run. The risk-ranking framework included eight criteria: five to describe the severity, three to describe the likelihood. All of them were informed by literature data and food safety agencies' reports, plus experts’ opinion. The PROMETHEE outranking MCDA technique, available in a R package, was implemented. This risk-ranking framework applied to the results of our small-scale survey revealed that consuming nuts on a regular basis could be the emerging dietary habit presenting the highest-risk score, due to the aflatoxin B1 hazard and its associated health effect (liver cancer). This risk-ranking framework requires however to be applied furthermore in other contexts to evaluate its robustness and identify opportunities for improvement. Once consolidated, this framework will be highly relevant for food safety authorities and policy makers to move forward transparent and evidence-informed decisions.

Meat Safety in Tanzania's Value Chain: Experiences, Explanations and Expectations in Butcheries and Eateries.

Urbanisation is associated with changes in consumption patterns and food production processes. These patterns and processes can increase or decrease the risks of outbreaks of foodborne diseases and are generally accompanied by changes in food safety policies and regulations about food handling. This affects consumers, as well as people economically engaged in the food value chain. This study looks at Tanzania’s red meat value chain—which in its totality involves about one third of the population—and focuses on the knowledge, attitudes and reported practices of operators of butcheries and eateries with regards to meat safety in an urban and in a rural environment. We interviewed 64 operators about their experiences with foodborne diseases and their explanations and expectations around meat safety, with a particular emphasis on how they understood their own actions regarding food safety risks vis-à-vis regulations. We found operators of eateries emphasising their own agency in keeping meat safe, whereas operators of butcheries—whose products are more closely inspected—relied more on official inspections. Looking towards meat safety in the future, interviewees in rural areas were, relative to their urban counterparts, more optimistic, which we attribute to rural operators’ shorter and relatively unmediated value chains.

Food Waste and Food Safety Linkagesalong the Supply Chain

SummaryFood safety, whether actual or perceived, is one of the major reasons for food waste along the agri‐food supply chain. Food safety hazards at farm level such as mycotoxin contamination of feed, overuse of antimicrobials in livestock disease control, and zoonotic disease incursion may lead to food unfit for human consumption and thus waste. Given the importance of safety as one of the most important attributes of food, the appropriate management of risks along the supply chain can contribute to reductions in food loss and waste. However, a better coordination between food waste and safety policies is also needed, which requires: balancing the scientific evidence and the precautionary principle; reviewing current food safety regulations to identify areas potentially leading to avoidable waste; combining the monitoring of safety hazards and waste along the agri‐food chain; provision of tailored information on linkages between food safety and waste; and investment in technologies to accurately assess the edibility of food. Attention needs to be paid to policies and practices on food labelling and packaging to ensure that they do not lead to unintended or unnecessary impacts on food safety and waste, which are not justified by scientific evidence.

INDONESIA FOOD SECURITY POLICY ON IMPORT CATTLE AND MEAT AUSTRALIA YEARS 2013-2017

Food is an essential human need and its fulfilment is part of human rights guaranteed by the constitution so that it has a strategic place in national development. However, if domestic food sources cannot meet national needs, then food imports can be carried out. Cattle and beef imports are carried out by Indonesia in order to meet Indonesia's food security policy. This study aims to describe and analyze how Indonesia's food safety policy in importing cattle and beef from Australia in 2013-2017. The research method used is a qualitative method with the type of descriptive research that aims to describe in detail and accurately and to deepen the meaning of research related to Indonesia's food security policy in Australian beef and beef imports. Data collection techniques with observation, in-depth interviews, and study documentation. The results show that Indonesia's policy to import Australian cows and beef is a liberal economic model, where the main role of imports is importing entrepreneurs, while the government as an import regulator has an interest in ensuring the fulfilment of three aspects of food security, namely food availability; affordability of food access; and affordability of prices; As for the other causes, Indonesia imports cows and beef from Australia due to political reasons.

Emerging Foodborne Diseases: What we know so far

Foodborne diseases (FBD) pose significant public health problems and economic losses worldwide. In recent years, emerging foodborne diseases have resulted mainly from novel bacteria, viruses, protozoa, mycotoxins, prions in animal and plant sources. The consumption of unsafe food contaminated with harmful bacteria, viruses, parasites or chemical agents or naturally occurring toxins results in high morbidity and mortality. However, estimating the incidence and burden of FBD is a huge global challenge due to the difficulty in food source attribution to specific pathogenic or chemical hazards, underreported cases, diagnosing how infections are transmitted or when a person is infected are not well understood and thus makes the control of FBD very challenging.. Therefore, implementing comprehensive food safety strategies and policies, enhancing surveillance, ensuring resilient health system, and intensifying education and training to ensure safe food and prevent foodborne diseases is everybody’s responsibility.

English

English

One Health for Food Safety, Food Security, and Sustainable Food Production

Globally, our society faces an enormous challenge to feed, house and provide a healthy life for the growing human population while preserving the environment and natural resources for the benefit of future generations. In order to meet these challenges, sustainable food production and environmental stewardship is paramount and will require a One Health approach. One Health is the concept that the health of humans, animals, and the environment are inextricably linked. This approach can be applied to food safety, sustainable food production and environmental stewardship by bringing together interdisciplinary teams to create a One Health network to address these challenges. Farmers, consumers, researchers, government agencies, and consumer advocacy groups play an important role in influencing food safety policies and sustainable food production practices. To make progress towards improving food safety and best practices for sustainable food production, scientific research is vital to shape and inform policies, practices and advance technological applications to increase food production, improve sustainable practices, and assess environmental impact in order to meet global health challenges, safeguard the environment, and provide an economic benefit to agriculture producers. Incorporating One Health education into curriculum for medical, veterinary, and scientific programs to develop one health competencies and networks is needed for improving public health, food safety and sustainable agriculture.

Integrating epidemiological and economic models to identify the cost of foodborne diseases

Despite food technology advancements, food safety policies and alert systems, foodborne diseases are still a relevant concern for consumers and public health authorities, with great impacts on the economy and the society. Evaluating the cost of foodborne diseases may support the design and the implementation of policy interventions. This paper proposes a simple method for cost identification of foodborne diseases, accessible to researchers and practitioners who are not specialist in economics. The method is based on the assumption that epidemiological and economic models can be integrated to understand how the burden of disease determines costs in a wider socio-economic perspective. Systems thinking and interdisciplinary approach are the pivotal conceptual tools of the method. Systems thinking allows for the understanding of the complex relationships working among the elementary units of a system (e.g. wildlife, bred animals, consumers, environment, agro-food industry) in the occurrence of a health problem such foodborne diseases. Complex systemic relationships usually cross the traditional boundaries of scientific knowledge (human medicine, veterinary science, economics) and sectoral institutional responsibilities (e.g. ministry of health, ministry of agriculture). For these reasons more scientific disciplines, institutional competences and social bodies need to work together to face complex health problems, in an interdisciplinary framework. The first step of the proposed method is the identification of the potential cost of the disease. To this aim, the authors first focus on the links between epidemiological and economic models, based on the fact that foodborne diseases, likewise other diseases, hit people's and animals' aptitude to produce utility and goods for the society (e.g. wellbeing, revenue, safe food). These utility losses are real economic costs. Then they show how simple economic models, such as the food supply chain, can help understand the way costs spread across the economic sectors and the society. It should be underlined that the authors adopt already existing and well rooted scientific tools, focusing in particular that their integration in an interdisciplinary framework can effectively contribute to increase the understanding of complex health problems in a viable way.

Trichotomy of awareness, outlook and practice of food handlers towards food and water safety in food establishments in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

IntroductionFood and waterborne diseases are the commonest global public health problems. Specifically, in Ethiopia, public health problems associated with deterioration of food and water safety situations are much more complicated due to poverty, economic and environment related risks. Awareness, outlook and practice of food handlers are the three important factors that play major roles in the occurrence and outbreak of food borne diseases. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate awareness, outlook and practice of food handlers towards food and water safety.MethodsInstitution based cross sectional study was conducted among food handlers of Addis Ababa city administration. In this study, 416 participants were selected using a stratified, simple random sampling technique; and were interviewed using structured questionnaire. Linear Regression Model and analysis of variance were used for data analysis.ResultsIn this study, 55.5%, 66.1% and 60.6% of the food handlers had good awareness, outlook and proper hygiene practices respectively. This study revealed that, 17.5% and 23.1% of the respondents did not know about food and water borne disease respectively. Only 39.4% of the participants had proper practice of covering mouth with tidy cloth when they cough. Moreover, 75.7% of the food handlers reported that they did not wear personal protective devices during the working time. Predictor variables like educational status and length of work experience were correlated positively and significantly with awareness. However, being married was correlated negatively with awareness.ConclusionAssessing awareness, outlook and practice of food handlers regarding food and water safety is a vital activity to reduce public health problems. Significant number of food handlers had poor awareness, outlook and practice towards food and water safety. There is a call for enhancing the awareness, outlook and practice of food and water safety to achieve an excellent practice. Better food and water safety policy and firm regulatory actions are needed.

Characterizing and Assessing the Quality of State K–12 Share Table Policies as a Potential Mechanism to Reduce Food Waste and Promote Food Security

ObjectiveTo identify the prevalence of state-level share table policies, assess the quality of available policies, and determine common policy characteristics. DesignIn this qualitative policy analysis, state-level share table policies and resources were collected from March to June, 2018 from the State Department of Education Child Nutrition Office Web sites and/or staff communication across 50 states and Washington, DC. Variables MeasuredFrequency of state-level policy documents assessed, as well as the allowable share table items, marketing and outreach guidance, and requirements for health code clearance, critical limits, monitoring, corrective actions, record keeping, redistribution plans, and allergy considerations. AnalysisAfter a deductive analysis approach, each collected policy document was scored on 10 a priori components primarily derived from existing food safety policies. Descriptive statistics were used to present common policy characteristics. ResultsAbout half of the US (n = 27) had a state-level share table policy document. Most states with a policy document (81%; n = 22) allowed unused share table items to be redistributed through reservice, food donation, or use as a cooked ingredient in future meals. Few states provided adequate guidance on monitoring, corrective actions, record keeping, allergy considerations, and best practices for share table marketing and outreach. Conclusions and ImplicationsThe high prevalence of state share table guidance suggests that this is a common food recovery strategy. Yet, states differed in allowable share table items and on permitted future use of share table items.

Seeing and Knowing: Sourcing Safe Food in Zhejiang

At a farm-to-table restaurant in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, high-quality food is sourced through direct relationships between restaurant staff and trusted rural suppliers. The restaurant is part of China’s growing food movement, and it shares this core principle of direct purchasing with other movement projects nationwide. At the same time, as the state responds to public anxieties over food safety, it has taken a “transparency” approach, emphasising “traceability” from field to tongue. Although such an approach may seem to follow similar logic to direct purchasing in the food movement, these two ways of pursuing safety are radically distinct. Drawing on evidence from the Hangzhou restaurant’s procurement system and Zhejiang’s “Sunshine Kitchen” food safety policies, I find that state responses to the food safety crisis misrecognise underlying moral-economic problems. By contrast, the restaurant’s farm-to-table purchasing system holds out a compelling model for (re)fashioning forms of moral consensus between growers and eaters of food.

Evolving Food Safety Pressures in California's Central Coast Region

California’s Central Coast rose to national food safety prominence following a deadly 2006 outbreak of Escherichia coli O157:H7 that was traced to spinach grown in this intensive agricultural region. Since then, private food safety protocols and subsequent public regulations targeting farm-level practices have developed extensively, aiming to avert future foodborne illness crises. However, amidst sweeping reforms in prescribed best practices for food safety, growers were pressured to take precautionary approaches to control pathogenic contamination—suppressing wildlife near fields, removing habitat, restricting biological soil amendments (e.g., compost, manure), and most recently, chemically treating irrigation water—that may generate negative unintended consequences for environmental and social sustainability. We synthesize socio-ecological data from three qualitative, interview-based studies to examine grower perceptions and experiences of food safety reforms in California’s Central Coast region and explore the effects of food safety regulations on environmental and socio-economic sustainability. We identify three disjunctures between food safety requirements and farming realities in practice: 1) Growers perceive that some food safety practices legitimately mitigate risk, while others fail to reduce or even accentuate risk; 2) Food safety requirements can create contradictions in the co-management of food safety and environmental sustainability; and 3) Food safety requirements may foster impediments to regional food systems socioeconomic sustainability. We argue that these disjunctures warrant changes in food safety policy, implementation, and/or food safety education. We provide concrete suggestions for shifting the focus of food safety reform away from the narrow surveillance of individual grower compliance and toward an integrated perspective on regional risk, vulnerability, and resilience.

Control, Coordination, and Capacity: Deficits in China’s Frontline Regulatory System for Food Safety

ABSTRACT Has the establishment of the China Food and Drug Administration in 2013 and the substantial revision of the Food Safety Law in 2015 addressed earlier implementation deficits in China’s food safety policy? Through a comprehensive literature review and series of in-depth interviews with local regulatory officials in Beijing, this study observed improvements in the frontline regulatory system regarding its adherence to regulations, corruption prevention, and citizen responsiveness. However, it also found that the system’s professional capacities were found vastly insufficient for its expanded regulatory scope. Also, frequent abuses of the citizen-complaint system added significantly to the already heavy workload. While better agency collaboration was reported at the subdistrict/township level, coordination with other related functional ministries and geographical regions remained inadequate. The findings provide a needed guide for future reforms.

Understanding how consumers with food allergies make decisions based on precautionary labelling.

Understanding consumer perceptions is crucial if effective food safety policy and risk communication are to be developed and implemented. We sought to understand how those living with food allergy assess risk with precautionary allergen labelling (PAL) and their preference in how risks are communicated within a quantitative risk assessment (QRA) framework. The Integrated Approaches to Food Allergen and Allergy Risk Management (iFAAM) labelling online survey was developed for adults and parents of children with food allergy and distributed across Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Spain and UK via patient support groups. There were 1560 complete responses. 'This product is not suitable for' was selected as first choice for PAL by 46% overall and 'May contain' was selected as the first choice by 44%. Seventy-three percent reported that it would improve their trust in a product if a QRA process had been used to make a decision about whether to include 'may contain'. Overall, 66% reported that a 'statement + symbol' on the label indicating a QRA, would help them to understand the risk assessment process that had been used by the food manufacturer. Consumers want to know what process has actually taken place for the placing of a PAL and/or risk assessment statement on a particular food product. Our findings provide a basis for the development of more informative communication around food allergen risk and safety and support evidence-based policy-making in the context of the legislative requirements of the European Union's Food Information for Consumers Regulation.

Soil-transmitted helminth (STH) eggs contaminating soils in selected organic and conventional farms in the Philippines

Soils from selected organic and conventional farms in the Philippines were examined for parasite contamination. A total of 600 soil samples from twenty organic and conventional farms were collected and processed through modified sucrose floatation technique. Results revealed that 248 out of 600 (41.33%) soil samples were contaminated with parasite eggs. Parasites recovered were Ascaris spp. (39.0%), Trichuris spp. (26.0%), hookworm/strongylid (22.0%), Toxocara spp. (4.0%), Taenia spp. (3.0%), and some unidentified eggs (6.0%). Contamination rate was found higher in organic (48.30%) than in conventional farms (37.67%) (p = 0.834; not significant); and significantly higher in Southern (64.40%) than in Northern Luzon region (31.40%) (p = 0.015). In addition, contamination rate between soil depths was not statistically significant (p = 0.24), with depth 1 (0-5 cm) at 43% and depth 2 (6-10 cm) at 39.67%. Furthermore, some farming practices were recorded through survey and results revealed that the use of manure as fertilizer (p = 0.017) and wash water (p = 0.014) showed significant positive relationship with parasite contamination in soil. These findings have implications on food safety and could be used to help the agriculture sector and other stakeholders in their efforts to improve food safety policies.

Food safety policies and practices in public spaces: The urban water, sanitation, and hygiene environment for fresh fish sold from individual vendors in Mzuzu, Malawi.

In sub‐Saharan Africa, informal markets account for more than 80% of the total food selling. Fish is a major protein source for households in Malawi and is commonly purchased from individual vendors. The aim of this study was to review national acts and policies and local regulations focused on fresh fish sold at open‐air markets or by mobile vendors and to further examine the water, sanitation, and hygiene environment that may impact food safety in Mzuzu City, Malawi. The study used interviews, an observational checklist, and sampling of water and fish skin. In general, there was limited oversight of food safety where fresh fish are sold by vendors, and food safety guidance was inadequate. There was access to water in three of the four markets, but only two markets had safe water (0 cfu/100 ml for Escherichia coli). All vendors stored water in a container for use throughout the day to sprinkle over the fish with their bare hands to keep them from drying out. The mean washing water E. coli level was 700 cfu/100 ml. All fish skin samples (25/25) were positive for the presence of Salmonella spp., and most had high levels of E. coli. Sanitation facilities were available for vendors and customers in two of the four markets, but the use was limited. This research identified three key opportunities: (a) Regulatory framework including informal markets and mobile vendors; (b) Safe water, clean and functional toilets, and handwashing stations with soap at every market; and (c) Foodborne disease education for vendors.