Pandemics and food systems - towards a proactive food safety approach to disease prevention & management

Abstract

Recent large-scale pandemics such as the covid19, H1N1, Swine flu, Ebola and the Nipah virus, which impacted human health and livelihoods, have come about due to inadequate food systems safeguards to detect, trace and eliminate threats arising from zoonotic diseases. Such diseases are transmitted to humans through their interaction with animals in the food value chain including through the consumption of bush meat. Climate change has also facilitated the emergence of new zoonotic diseases. The lack of adequately enforced food-safety standards in managed agricultural production systems creates the necessary conditions for diseases to mutate into highly contagious strains. The lack of food safety measures in handling, packaging and sales of food increases risks of cross-species contamination. Finally, increasing anti-microbial resistance, combined with rapid urbanization and global interconnectedness allows diseases to spread rapidly among humans. Thus, part of the reconstruction efforts, post covid19, should include prioritizing proactive investments in food safety. The key to stave off another such pandemic lies in integrating one-health knowledge on zoonotic diseases along with food safety measures along the food value chain. Refocusing policy priorities from disease control to prevention will improve international coordination efforts in pandemic prevention. Implementing such proactive actions will cost a very small fraction of the reconstruction budgets. However, the expected benefits of the food-safety approach will include preventing global economic losses due to pandemics.

A bibliometric analysis of food safety governance research from 1999 to 2019

“…In 2014, China's meat‐processing industry, the Australian dairy industry, and the European meat‐processing and catering service industry also suffered several serious food safety incidents. Meanwhile, the sudden outbreak of major public health events such as H1N1 in 2009, H7N9 in 2013, and MERS in 2015 also had a certain influence on global food safety (Aiyar & Pingali, 2020; Harder et al., 2016).…”

Assessing Environmental Factors within the One Health Approach

“…The ecosystem and how it is shaped by human activities like agriculture, is an important determinant for the risk assessment of zoonoses transmitted by wildlife [ 3 ]. Climate change represents a crucial example of an environmental factor severely impacting wild and domestic animal populations, food chains and human health [ 4 , 5 , 6 ]. Changes of the climate like altering temperatures can play a considerable role in the spread of diseases.…”

Application of Lactobacillus helveticus CNRZ 32 to Control the Microbial Contaminants in Cheese by Addition of Bacterial Extracts or by In Situ Production of Bioactive Metabolites

“…Food safety organizations which regulate all steps and operators along food production chain, such as the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) have been created to ensure the safety of foods within food markets and to prevent the National spread of food-based diseases what so-called "cross-species contamination" [2]. Also, knowledge and training programs such as Hazard analysis and critical control points (HACCP), Good hygienic practices (GHPs) and Good agricultural practices (GAPs) need to be upgraded in dairy industries chain [3].…”