Food Safety & Sustainability in Emergent Countries

Food safety procedures aim to reduce foodborne diseases which are an important cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide, mainly caused by harmfull bacteria. Even in industrialized countries, food contamination still creates an enormous social and economic strain on societies. For instance in the USA, where HACCP, systematic preventive approach to food safety was first developed, about 48 million people (1 in 6 Americans) still get sick every year, of which 128,000 are hospitalized, and 3,000 die each year from foodborne diseases, according to recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Food Safety Modernization Act has been signed by law in 2011 by US government and is confirming the widely shared trend that satisfying food safety standards are preferably met by the food industry, in a context that see the dramatic expansion in the global scale and complexity of the food system, thus leading to a decline in local subsistence production systems by leaving aside small scale producers and food artisans who are not equiped to reach those standards .

However, such strong belief must not hide the numerous negative repercussions that uncontrasted food industrialization trend has on the local economies worldwide, in particular employment and social inclusion, on environment (soil erosion, biodiversity reduction, climate change, water pollution etc.) and even … on human health. Indeed besides the statistics on foodborne diseases, the WHO also presents other worrying evidences on food related diseases among which overweight and obesity represent one of the most significant symtom of a rapidly growing threat to the health of populations in an increasing number of countries, as a consequence of increased urbanization and industrialization and the disappearance of traditional lifestyles.
Therefore if expectation rises for a paradigm shift in both planning and policy formulation, in order to ensure food access, foster inclusion and innovation, improve environmental management, enhance rural-urban linkages and provide policy guidance at global and local level, such wide field of thought and discussion must include a focus on food safety issues. Indeed, we need to learn from past mistakes and avoid repeating them by reformulating rulemaking and guidance development process and setting up new prevention-oriented standards that are also matching sustainability requirements such as food waste eradication, food security and sovereignty, protection of environment, people health and quality of life.