Impact on Food Safety

A working group of the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) in Berlin has analysed the occurrence of pathogens in detail in connection with the consequences of climate change. The scientists' conclusion: Climate change can affect more than half of all major infectious diseases. This not only applies to existing pathogens. In fact, new pathogens could emerge at the same time as pathogens that have long been suppressed.

BfR President Professor Andreas Hensel cites examples: "Infection routes for campylobacter as a common bacterial pathogen are contaminated chicken meat or unpasteurised milk. We know that the infection process is temperature-dependent. If the warm periods become longer, an increase can be expected. The same applies to salmonella. If the average weekly maximum temperature rises by one degree Celsius, modelling studies show that the number of cases of salmonellosis can be expected to increase by almost 9 % per week." This is due to the fact that at higher temperatures, the bacterial load of food can increase significantly during the various stages of production, transport and improper storage.

The risk even extends to raw vegetables - during cultivation, for example, through contamination via process water, and during and after harvesting via equipment, transport containers, rinsing water, ice, transport vehicles or processing equipment.

As far as new types of risks are concerned, Hensel refers to pathogenic vibrios and marine toxins. "Fish or seafood may be increasingly contaminated with the former when temperatures rise in European farming and fishing areas." It is therefore crucial to safely decontaminate the products using optimised heating or other technologies. According to the expert, the same can be expected for marine biotoxins from microalgae, for example. "Climate change can also change the geographical distribution of algae species and cause them to appear in previously unaffected fishing areas." Companies and institutes should therefore be prepared when it comes to quality control.

The EU Agency for Food and Feed Safety (EFSA) categorises the situation in a very similar way. The consequences for cultivation methods, yields and the nutritional value of food crops are already apparent. An international team of scientists has therefore developed a method for identifying emerging risks associated with climate change. The approach of this project, entitled CLEFSA - Climate change as a driver of emerging risks for food and feed safety, plant, animal health and nutritional quality, includes assessment forms for visualising the potential impact of climate change on various aspects of food safety.

In order to reduce the risks to food in terms of contamination with pathogenic species or transport-related food waste, product processing strategies are needed that also conserve resources. In addition to safe thermalisation, this includes better cold chain monitoring, and the refrigeration itself must work efficiently and sustainably. Consistent hygiene and monitoring with rapid analysis technologies also play a role. There is great potential here in the Internet of Things (IoT), where data from sensors for temperature, humidity and more flows onto a common control platform.

Another area concerns the use of new technologies for tracking globalised supply chains. In this context, BfR Director Hensel refers to digital approaches such as blockchain or radio frequency identification device (RFID) tags. Specifically: "Their use can also significantly improve the traceability of seafood and transparency." The blockchain approach is based on decentralised databases in which a continuous list of data records (ledgers) are interlinked. This would enable timely, targeted intervention without unnecessary interruptions to production if necessary. Product authentication could be further improved in conjunction with machine learning, data mining and the use of artificial intelligence.

"We will all benefit if we are able to identify the source of contaminated products more quickly," said Steven Solomon, Director of the FDA's Centre for Veterinary Medicine, in a report on climate change. "We're living in a time in which technological and scientific innovations are revolutionising the entire agricultural sector. It's important for all countries to keep pace with progress - especially in the area of food safety."

https://www.bfr.bund.de

https://www.efsa.europa.eu/de/topics/topic/climate-change-and-food-safety

https://www.fao.org/documents/card/en/c/cb8667en

https://www.fda.gov/food/new-era-smarter-food-safety/new-era-smarter-food-safety-blueprint