National Food Safety Systems Research Articles

Risk estimates of hepatocellular carcinoma in Vojvodina (Serbia) related to aflatoxin M1 contaminated cheese

Aflatoxin M1 (AFM1) is a well known hazard with potential to induce hepatocellular carcinoma, frequently found in milk and dairy products, including cheese. In order to understand the scale of health burden associated to AFM1 exposure in the population of Vojvodina (Serbia), an investigation of cheese contamination was carried out on 60 samples collected during 2019−2020. Analyses by ELISA and HPLC-FLD methods revealed that as much as 70 % of the samples contained detectable amounts of AFM1 (>25 ng/kg). Notable differences were recorded between domestic and imported samples, regarding AFM1 occurrence (78 vs 58 %) and mean content (97 vs 28 ng/kg). Regarding risk estimates, margins of exposure (MoEs) for AFM1–induced hepatocellular carcinoma were of low health concern (>10,000) for all population groups, across exposure levels, except for preschool children at high exposure (P95: 7148). Exclusive consumption of domestic cheeses resulted in even lower MoEs, indicating risk for preschool children (P95: 3867) and children (P95: 6414). With respect to AFM1-induced additional hepatocellular cancer cases assessed based on combined effects of AFM1 and chronic hepatitis B/C viral infection, even the highest estimates were below the level of concern. Study results should enable policy-makers to set priorities in the national food safety system.

Review of Food Safety Policy in Nigeria

Food safety is an integral part of food and nutrition security. Foodborne diseases (FBD) can occur when food safety measures are not applied. Unfortunately, most of the burden of foodborne illness is shouldered by children under five years of age and people living in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). The foundation of food safety is built upon a quality-safety culture, compliance with food laws, regulation, policy, traceability, and food safety management systems encompassing documentation, training, auditing, reporting and corrective action. This paper reviews four existing national policy documents in Nigeria, three of which include food safety components. The fourth document, the National Policy on Food Safety and Its Implementation Strategy (NPFSIS), is Nigeria’s principal food safety policy document and was reviewed in more detail. This review focuses on the situational and analytical concepts of the policy framework of the National Food Safety System (NFSS) in Nigeria. It also examines the status of the implementation of the NPFSIS 2014 and its alignment with international best practices. It was undertaken to assess existing food safety policy documents in Nigeria, identify gaps, make recommendations, and proffer solutions. Keywords: food safety, policy, foodborne diseases, gaps, Nigeria DOI: 10.7176/JLPG/110-07 Publication date: June 30 th 2021

Capacity building and support from international organizations

Abstract WHO has a critical role to provide the evidence for action to improve food safety and to support Member states to effectively collect, analyse, report and use data on foodborne diseases. In 2006, WHO launched the initiative to estimate the global burden of foodborne diseases. The estimates were published in 2015 and showed that every year, 31 selected food-associated hazards contribute to 600 million people falling ill and 420,000 people dying because of contaminated food. About 40% of the burden was borne by children under 5 years of age. Due to limitations of diseases surveillance systems and the fact that not all ill people seek medical care, the estimated burden is recognised to be only the 'tip of the iceberg'. The actual burden is expected to be significantly higher. In line with global and regional action frameworks and based on country support plans and biennial collaboration agreements with Member States, WHO, in collaboration with its partners and collaborating centres, provides technical assistance to Member States to strengthen national food safety systems. This includes technical assistance to generate, collect and analyse food safety information underpinning evidence. Information about the burden of foodborne diseases is important to inform policy, guide resource allocation and to determine potential prevention and control measures for food safety. Acknowledging that most food safety policy work takes place at country level, WHO is developing tools for Member States to estimate the national burden of foodborne diseases. The tools are being developed to build capacity in Member States to collect, analyse and use foodborne disease data, prioritize specific food safety issues, identify risk factors in foodborne diseases and provide a baseline against which future food safety interventions can be evaluated.

Risks of modern biotechnologies and legal aspects of their implementation in agriculture

The main purpose of this study is to determine the best practices of social regulation of negative consequences for modern biotechnology use based on a comparative review of European and Russian legal regulations on food safety. The paper gives original classification of risks of biotechnologies introduction in agriculture, namely: food, agricultural, environmental, patent, social and ethical ones. Although risk assessment systems have been in use for some time, consumers do not always trust the results. One explanation for this is that in the past many national food safety systems had problems with timely notification of certain products’ potential hazards. In many countries, social and ethical views can be the reason for rejection of certain products, manipulation of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Such conflicts often reflect deeper issues about the interaction of human society and nature – issues that must be fully taken into account in any attempt at social communication. Authors offer a mode of social control and consensus in the form of agrobioethics, similar to bioethics in biomedical technologies.

Prevention and Control of Foodborne Diseases in Middle-East North African Countries: Review of National Control Systems.

Foodborne diseases continue to be a global public health problem with an estimated 600 million people falling ill annually. In return, international standards are becoming stricter which poses challenges to food trade. In light of the increasing burden of foodborne diseases, many countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region have upgraded their food laws and undertaken changes to the organizational structure of their regulatory institutions to maintain or expand international export activities, tighten control on local and imported products, and protect consumers’ health. However, until this date, the published information on the regional health burdens of foodborne diseases is very limited and it is not clear whether the recent changes will serve towards science-based and effective preventive functions and the adoption of the risk management approach. In this review, we summarize the recent food safety issues and the national food control systems of selected countries in the region although we were challenged with the scarcity of information. To this end, we examined the national food safety systems in the context of the five essential elements of the FAO/WHO Guidelines for Strengthening National Food Control Systems. These five elements—food law and regulations; food control management; inspection services; laboratory services; food monitoring; and epidemiological data, information, education, communication, and training—constitute the building blocks of a national food control system, but could also serve as tools to assess the effectiveness of the systems.

SAFETY ASSESSMENT AND LIABILITY REGULATIONS IN THE CONTEXT OF GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOOD IN THE BRICS COUNTRIES

International trade of food products is expected to increase rapidly with the widespread introduction of genetically modified (GM) food. There will be greater participation of developing countries based on investment as well as research and development. Investment in research and development and commercial production of GM crops is high in Asia, particularly in India and China, but also in Latin American countries, such as Brazil, and on the African continent, especially in South Africa. Despite the merits, the introduction of GM foods in the world market has continued to raise public concerns touching upon health, legal, social, ethical and environmental issues. Especially, the issue of contamination is considered asignificant threat at many stages of development of GM food. Transboundary aspects and certain aspects of the components of the food safety system such as safety assessment, liability and redress are still not completely addressed. The present study is the systematic review of the extent of the development of legislation and institutional mechanisms in relation to safety assessment and liability mechanisms for regulating the emerging GM foods in the developing countries of BRICS. Additionally, the comparison of the components of national food safety systems of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa reveals differences in policy and regulation in relation to GM food.

Characterizing the rapid spread of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) through an animal food manufacturing facility.

New regulatory and consumer demands highlight the importance of animal feed as a part of our national food safety system. Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) is the first viral pathogen confirmed to be widely transmissible in animal food. Because the potential for viral contamination in animal food is not well characterized, the objectives of this study were to 1) observe the magnitude of virus contamination in an animal food manufacturing facility, and 2) investigate a proposed method, feed sequencing, to decrease virus decontamination on animal food-contact surfaces. A U.S. virulent PEDV isolate was used to inoculate 50 kg swine feed, which was mixed, conveyed, and discharged into bags using pilot-scale feed manufacturing equipment. Surfaces were swabbed and analyzed for the presence of PEDV RNA by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). Environmental swabs indicated complete contamination of animal food-contact surfaces (0/40 vs. 48/48, positive baseline samples/total baseline samples, positive subsequent samples/total subsequent samples, respectively; P < 0.05) and near complete contamination of non-animal food-contact surfaces (0/24 vs. 16/18, positive baseline samples/total baseline samples, positive subsequent samples/total subsequent samples, respectively; P < 0.05). Flushing animal food-contact surfaces with low-risk feed is commonly used to reduce cross-contamination in animal feed manufacturing. Thus, four subsequent 50 kg batches of virus-free swine feed were manufactured using the same system to test its impact on decontaminating animal food-contact surfaces. Even after 4 subsequent sequences, animal food-contact surfaces retained viral RNA (28/33 positive samples/total samples), with conveying system being more contaminated than the mixer. A bioassay to test infectivity of dust from animal food-contact surfaces failed to produce infectivity. This study demonstrates the potential widespread viral contamination of surfaces in an animal food manufacturing facility and the difficulty of removing contamination using conventional feed sequencing, which underscores the importance for preventing viruses from entering and contaminating such facilities.

A New Era in the European Union: Time to Reform the Cyprus National Food Safety System

SummaryThis article critically examines the current National Food Safety System (NFSS) of Cyprus and identifies its main shortcomings related mainly to duplication and overlapping of food safety responsibilities between competent agencies. Although food supply in Cyprus is generally safe, the country does not have a single and independent National Food Safety Authority (NFSA), but a multi‐level, fragmented system divided among several ministries and governmental agencies based on different food inspection tasks. On the contrary, the European Union (EU) and the majority of EU Member States have re‐organised their systems and established stand‐alone authorities at the central or national level. Within this context, the limitations and strengths of a proposed draft law for the establishment of a Cyprus NFSA embedded in the current environment of economic crisis are also discussed. Finally, the findings of a population‐based survey, which was carried out to determine the beliefs and attitudes of interested parties (regular consumers, food business operators and public service directors or head officers) concerning the operation of the NFSS in Cyprus, are presented. The findings are highlighted in relation to the different practices employed in the EU Member States to rebuild their corresponding NFSS.

National Food Safety Systems in the European Union: A Comparative Survey

This paper is a comparative survey of the National Food Safety Systems (NFSS) of the European Union (EU) Member-States (MS) and the Central EU level. The main organizational structures of the NFSS, their legal frameworks, their responsibilities, their experiences, and challenges relating to food safety are discussed. Growing concerns about food safety have led the EU itself, its MS and non-EU countries, which are EU trade-partners, to review and modify their food safety systems. Our study suggests that the EU and 22 out of 27 Member States (MS) have reorganized their NFSS by establishing a single food safety authority or a similar organization on the national or central level. In addition, the study analyzes different approaches towards the establishment of such agencies. Areas where marked differences in approaches were seen included the division of responsibilities for risk assessment (RA), risk management (RM), and risk communication (RC). We found that in 12 Member States, all three areas of activity (RA, RM, and RC) are kept together, whereas in 10 Member States, risk management is functionally or institutionally separate from risk assessment and risk communication. No single ideal model for others to follow for the organization of a food safety authority was observed; however, revised NFSS, either in EU member states or at the EU central level, may be more effective from the previous arrangements, because they provide central supervision, give priority to food control programs, and maintain comprehensive risk analysis as part of their activities.

National Food Safety Systems in the European Union: A Comparative Survey

This paper is a comparative survey of the National Food Safety Systems (NFSS) of the European Union (EU) Member-States (MS) and the Central EU level. The main organizational structures of the NFSS, their legal frameworks, their responsibilities, their experiences, and challenges relating to food safety are discussed. Growing concerns about food safety have led the EU itself, its MS and non-EU countries, which are EU trade-partners, to review and modify their food safety systems. Our study suggests that the EU and 22 out of 27 Member States (MS) have reorganized their NFSS by establishing a single food safety authority or a similar organization on the national or central level. In addition, the study analyzes different approaches towards the establishment of such agencies. Areas where marked differences in approaches were seen included the division of responsibilities for risk assessment (RA), risk management (RM), and risk communication (RC). We found that in 12 Member States, all three areas of activity (RA, RM, and RC) are kept together, whereas in 10 Member States, risk management is functionally or institutionally separate from risk assessment and risk communication. No single ideal model for others to follow for the organization of a food safety authority was observed; however, revised NFSS, either in EU member states or at the EU central level, may be more effective from the previous arrangements, because they provide central supervision, give priority to food control programs, and maintain comprehensive risk analysis as part of their activities.

Establishment of a National Food Safety Authority for Cyprus: A comparative proposal based on the European paradigm

This paper examines the current National Food Safety System (NFSS) of Cyprus in contrast to NFSS of European Union (EU) countries and the EU central level. The main organizational structure of Cyprus, its legal framework, the competent authorities and division of their responsibilities are discussed. Particularly, we examine the roles and responsibilities of different agencies in order to identify possible similarities and differences with NFSS operating in Europe and determine which features are considered most successful.Cyprus is one of the EU countries that have not yet implemented institutional or organizational changes to establish a single National Food Safety Authority (NFSA) or a similar organization on the national level. The existing food safety system of Cyprus is characterized by an “off-hand” addition of structures and division of responsibilities among different government agencies, that are accountable to different Ministries. Therefore, the efforts to effectively manage the existing and emerging food safety risks are impeded due to duplication and overlapping of responsibilities among different agencies.The overall goal of our study was to develop a comprehensive proposal for the establishment of a single and independent NFSA in Cyprus based on EU experiences and good practices in an effort to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the current system.

Ranking the disease burden of 14 pathogens in food sources in the United States using attribution data from outbreak investigations and expert elicitation.

Understanding the relative public health impact of major microbiological hazards across the food supply is critical for a risk-based national food safety system. This study was conducted to estimate the U.S. health burden of 14 major pathogens in 12 broad categories of food and to then rank the resulting 168 pathogen-food combinations. These pathogens examined were Campylobacter, Clostridium perfringens, Escherichia coli O157:H7, Listeria monocytogenes, norovirus, Salmonella enterica, Toxoplasma gondii, and all other FoodNet pathogens. The health burden associated with each pathogen was measured using new estimates of the cost of illness and loss of quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) from acute and chronic illness and mortality. A new method for attributing illness to foods was developed that relies on both outbreak data and expert elicitation. This method assumes that empirical data are generally preferable to expert judgment; thus, outbreak data were used for attribution except where evidence suggests that these data are considered not representative of food attribution. Based on evaluation of outbreak data, expert elicitation, and published scientific literature, outbreak-based attribution estimates for Campylobacter, Toxoplasma, Cryptosporidium, and Yersinia were determined not representative; therefore, expert-based attribution were included for these four pathogens. Sensitivity analyses were conducted to assess the effect of attribution data assumptions on rankings. Disease burden was concentrated among a relatively small number of pathogen-food combinations. The top 10 pairs were responsible for losses of over $8 billion and 36,000 QALYs, or more than 50 % of the total across all pairs. Across all 14 pathogens, poultry, pork, produce, and complex foods were responsible for nearly 60 % of the total cost of illness and loss of QALYs.

Chronicle of a Health Crisis: Global Implications of the 2008 Melamine Event

Vol. 117, No. 12 NewsOpen AccessChronicle of a Health Crisis: Global Implications of the 2008 Melamine Event Tanya Tillett Tanya Tillett Search for more papers by this author Published:1 December 2009https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.117-a553bCited by:1AboutSectionsPDF ToolsDownload CitationsTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InReddit Melamine is commonly used to manufacture strong and durable laminates, plastics, adhesives, and flame-resistant textiles. It also has been deliberately added to food and animal feed, sometimes in high amounts, to boost the appearance of protein content based on nitrogen analysis. The result can be serious health threats, including renal failure and death. In 2007–2008, for instance, the deliberate addition of melamine to raw milk used in powdered infant formula and other milk and dairy products caused an outbreak of kidney stones and renal failure in Chinese infants and raised significant implications for global food and feed safety [EHP117:1803–1809; Gossner et al.].Because melamine is used in such a wide range of products, its trace presence in many foods is inevitable—action is not usually taken if levels are below 1.0 mg/kg for infant foods or 2.5 mg/kg for other food products. In comparison, contaminated powdered infant formula produced by the Sanlu Group and distributed in China contained up to 2,563 mg/kg.Using information originally reported by the Chinese Ministry of Health to the World Health Organization and shared through the International Food Safety Authorities Network (INFOSAN), the authors describe the unfolding of events from the first reported cases of sick babies in China to the export of contaminated dairy and non-dairy products (including ammonium bicarbonate, fresh and dried eggs, nondairy creamer, and animal feed) that eventually reached 47 known countries. Although parents who used Sanlu formula first began filing complaints in December 2007, the global community did not become aware of the crisis until September 2008.Countries responded in a variety of ways ranging from taking no action at all to banning all imports of milk and dairy products from China. Meanwhile, China reported a total of 6 child deaths and 294,000 cases of children affected by consumption of contaminated formula and milk products. Health effects ranged from discolored urine to kidney stones to acute renal failure and subsequent death. Because milder cases were often asymptomatic, many more children may have been affected both in China and abroad.Given the potential global impact of the 2008 event, the authors state that well-structured national food safety systems—combined with coordination among food safety authorities and rapid communication through INFOSAN—are key components in controlling such outbreaks. There also should be one harmonized set of international standards for acceptable levels of potential contaminants in food and feed products as well as universal methods of detection, prevention, and containment.Chinese parents wait to have their babies examined for melamine effects at a Suzhou hospital, 22 September 2008.FiguresReferencesRelatedDetailsCited By Tsang M, Marsch A, Bassett K, High W, Fitzpatrick J and Prok L (2012) A visible response to an invisible tattoo, Journal of Cutaneous Pathology, 10.1111/j.1600-0560.2012.01961.x, 39:9, (877-880), Online publication date: 1-Sep-2012. Vol. 117, No. 12 December 2009Metrics About Article Metrics Publication History Originally published1 December 2009Published in print1 December 2009 Financial disclosuresPDF download License information EHP is an open-access journal published with support from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health. All content is public domain unless otherwise noted. Note to readers with disabilities EHP strives to ensure that all journal content is accessible to all readers. However, some figures and Supplemental Material published in EHP articles may not conform to 508 standards due to the complexity of the information being presented. If you need assistance accessing journal content, please contact [email protected]. Our staff will work with you to assess and meet your accessibility needs within 3 working days.

Outside Looking In: Understanding the Role of Science in Regulation

When Rachel Carson took on the task of defining environmental health advocacy in the early 1960s, she made the business of government oversight look simple and straightforward. “Much of the necessary knowledge is now available, but we do not use it,” she wrote in her 1962 book Silent Spring. “We train ecologists in our universities and even employ them in our government agencies, but we seldom take their advice. We allow the chemical death rain to fall as though there were no alternative, whereas in fact there are many, and our ingenuity could soon discover more if given opportunity.” Carson would likely be dazzled by the extent to which governments of all stripes have since called on scientific experts to help populate a regulatory galaxy that extends from the humblest of municipal bailiwicks to the global economy. Nevertheless, the unfolding of this new world of prevention and protection has been neither tidy nor consistent. The scientific community generates volumes of data about potential hazards to human health, but the process of interpretation—resulting ultimately in the development of policy—is often heavily shaped by political, economic, and even cultural interests, which can vary dramatically from one hazard to the next, as well as from one jurisdiction to the next. The outcome of any regulatory deliberation can therefore be unexpected and downright frustrating. A given agent might be labeled a toxic threat in one place while being tolerated without prejudice somewhere else, even as the architects of each policy looked at the very same data. That prospect might puzzle many thoughtful and earnest observers who believe definitive scientific findings should yield equally definitive responses. Daniel Sarewitz recalls his early days as a Congressional Science Fellow in 1989. “The scales fell from my eyes after about a week of being [in Washington, DC],” he says. “When you’re a scientist working in academia, what you see is scientists arguing about difficult problems to try to arrive at the truth. When you’re on the Hill, you realize what’s really going on is these problems are complicated both in terms of the science and in terms of the values. It’s possible to bring many different scientific lenses—interpretations of data, choices of what data to use, what theories to use—to any given complex problem. Not surprisingly, those choices end up mapping onto value preferences and political preferences.” Today Sarewitz is director of the Consortium for Science, Policy, & Outcomes, which, in its own words, seeks to enhance the capacity of public policy to link scientific research to beneficial societal outcomes. But Sarewitz says the consortium faces resistance in moving these perspectives into open public debate. The difficulty, as he outlined in an article in the October 2004 issue of Environmental Science & Policy, stems from a common desire of both advocates and opponents of any given regulation to invoke science to make their respective cases. The former will insist that current knowledge warrants doing something, while the latter point to uncertainties in that same knowledge as justification for doing less, or perhaps nothing.

A Single Microbial Sea: Food Safety as a Global Concern

Foodborne disease is a significant public health problem worldwide, with enormous human and economic costs. Food safety systems designed to protect consumers face several challenges: the emergence of new pathogens and other hazards, the reemergence of pathogens and other hazards thought to be controlled, and the heightened threat of food as a vehicle for bioterrorism. Global food trade contributes to and magnifies these challenges through the introduction of contamination from one country to another; the multiplication of opportunities for contamination as food travels longer distances and over longer periods of time; the magnified impact of contamination as products reach more people over a wider area; and the difficulty of knowing the origin or history of a food that has been shipped through multiple countries. In responding to these threats, national governments and international bodies must answer a number of key questions. What are the gaps in existing food safety systems? What responsibility do developed countries have to improve systems in less developed countries? What is the role of international bodies? This article argues that global standards focused on public health outcomes, and national food safety systems based on those standards, are essential to protect public health and support the continued expansion of global food trade.

Food Safety for Professionals (Second Edition)

Drs. Cody and Kunkel have compiled an informative overview of food safety issues that is targeted toward dietetics professionals in particular but is also useful for food safety professionals. The guide contains many of the standard elements found in dietetics textbooks, including charts of toxic agents, information on specific foods and safety concerns, and basic food safety programs. The authors have wisely amended the standard textbook approach by including information on consumer needs and behaviors, a review of food safety surveillance programs, and a discussion of food safety laws and regulations. This edition includes additional chapters on suggestions for continuing education for dietetics professionals and an expanded list of resources, including online references. This guide includes many useful details in a understandable format. The text is replete with tables (e.g., Descriptions of Specific Foodborne Bacterial Pathogens and Major Food Laws in the United States), which make the wealth of information easily readable. An extensive glossary specific to dietetic practice is included. The text also contains a continuing education self-assessment instrument for dietitians. The breadth of the text is both its strength and weakness: a vast amount of material is covered, but inevitably, general statements are bound to leave out subtleties useful to the reader. In addition, foodborne illnesses caused by bacterial pathogens are emphasized; therefore, much of the discussion is focused on control measures for bacteria. The text incorrectly states, “…bacteria cause most of the cases of foodborne illness in the United States….” Most cases of foodborne illnesses are caused by unidentified agents. Of the illnesses of known origin, most are caused by viruses (1). On the other hand, the authors wisely include a discussion of parasites, an often overlooked as a cause of foodborne disease. Similarly, the statement “FDA can order a product recall (or seize goods in the field)” on page 104 is inaccurate. While FDA can seize goods or request that a firm initiate recalls of food products, the agency's authority does not currently extend to mandatory recalls for most foods. FDA can, however, require a recall of infant formula under certain circumstances. The text would benefit from a deeper discussion of the role of the respective federal agencies in protecting the U.S. food supply. In addition, several important issues are not addressed or are not discussed thoroughly (e.g., global food safety considerations, the national food safety system, HACCP regulations for meat and poultry, seafood, and juice). To their credit, the authors include a discussion of chronic sequelae of foodborne infections, an important area of consideration, particularly for dietitians. The text makes heavy use of Internet references. These references provide an abundance of current information but risk becoming out-of-date if the sites disappear or are not routinely updated. Overall, the book is a valuable resource for its soup-to-nuts information approach. The book, a gold mine of useful information for dietitians, provides good one-stop-shopping for infectious disease scientists and professionals wishing to learn about the world of food safety.

Food Safety

Food safety in the foodservice industry is an issue that is a priority at the federal level. In 1999 the National Food Safety System formed the Coordinating Committee to combat the problem. Since t...