Emerging trends in
food safety
The history of human existence tells us that
hunting and gathering food was once a
permanent feature in the day to day activities of
humans, with the next meal never being a
guaranteed event. Sourcing or foraging for
food kept humans together and led to building
of communities, settlements, townships and
cities.
Settled agriculture and livestock farming
brought a total change in human life, and with
it, the food system. Soon, practices were
developed to keep food for future use, for sale
or for trading. As humans learnt to store their
farm produce and keep food safe from
spoilage, they laid the foundation for a
multitude of processes. Drying, heating,
cooking, pickling, salting, keeping food in
closed or sealed containers (precursors of
today’s hermetically sealed containers / cans /
aseptic packs) were some of the initial
innovative applications of their understanding
of food safety. In addition, they also developed
unwritten norms for hygiene to ensure food
cooked at home and at community meals was
safe to eat.
Looking into the future, we find that the global
human population is estimated to touch 8.5
billion by 2030 and 9.7 billion in 2050 (as per
UN DESA report) - and India is expected to
become the most populous nation in 2022,
with close to 20 per cent share of the world’s
population. The challenges of ensuring food
safety at this scale are enormous. It demands
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Sunil Adsule
Director, Scientfic & Regulation
Coca-cola India &
South West Asia
application of determined, innovative, inclusive
and participative approach from all
stakeholders that are involved in food chain
from farm to fork. The good news is that food
science professionals and the food processing
fraternity at large are constantly looking for
newer and better ways to assure food safety for
masses. Food safety needs to get culturally
ingrained – it is possible if all stakeholders
decide they want to make a difference.
The food system is a complex network of
farmers and the industries that are linked to
them. Those links include makers of farm
equipment and chemicals as well as firms that
provide services to agribusinesses, such as
providers of transportation and financial
services. The system also includes food
marketing industries that link farms to
consumers and which include food processors,
wholesalers, retailers, and foodservice
establishments.
Initiating Food Safety Processes in India
The Food Safety and Standards Act (FSSA),
2006 signaled a major step towards using
science as the bedrock in framing, developing
and drafting food regulations. Since its
formation, FSSAI has brought in several
regulations to guide Food Business Operators
(FBOs) in ensuring safety of food in
manufacture, storage, distribution and sale of
food products. FSSA covers food imports in the
country, which was not covered under earlier
regime.
During the last decade, FSSAI has consciously
worked toward harmonising Indian regulations
with Codex Alimentarius to usher into the
country an era of globally accepted norms of
consumer safety while balancing trade
interests.
The science of food safety has tremendously
advanced globally and nationally over these
past 10-15 years. These times also witnessed
melamine-tainted milk products from China to
E. coli O157:H7-contaminated spinach from
the US; new and unforeseen food safety risks
continue to emerge, impacting countries and
consumers worldwide.
Key Trends in Food Industry
Some of the key trends in the food industry
today that are critical for a manufacturer to
factor in are:
• Today’s consumers are much more
demanding about food safety and quality.
Internet, media and social media have given
them access to information across the globe
and have given each person a public voice.
As a result, product failures in one
country/region can potentially restrict sale
in other regions.
• Modern nutrition science is able to provide
insight into linkage of nutritional habits to
general health. Consumption of certain
foods can help in prevention of diseases or
alleviating their effects e.g. nutraceuticals,
functional foods. These trends will bring the
food industry and the pharmaceutical
industry closer together.
• ‘Naturalness’is increasingly becoming an
important emotional value of aspects
related to health and care for the
environment. There is a clear shift to using
more natural ingredients in foods.
• Convenience continues to be a key driver of
acceptability for food products.
• Variety of choice of foods has increased.
This has led to speeding up the
product/process development cycle
requiring the product developer to design
food safety at formulation stage.
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While these trends are consumer-led and have a
big impact on technology development in the
food industry, it will have bearing on food safety
aspects. The modern food system is
interdependent on various elements, including
technology for production and processing,
various forms of transportation for the
movement of food, integrated information
management for supply chain logistics and
inventory control, marketing for reaching
consumers, and much more. When it comes to
food safety, within this complex system there
are numerous critical control points that should
be well integrated to ensure delivery of safe
food product.
Recent concerns of food borne contamination
and recall have brought the spotlight back on
the importance of continuous improvements,
driving manufacturers to seek newer food
protection strategies such as:
• The identification, prevention, control and
monitoring of foodborne pathogens and
microbial parasites remains one of the food
industry’s most pressing problems.
• Food safety challenges with regard to
chemical and physical contaminants will
remain priorities for the food industry. FBOs
track chemical contaminants and pesticide
residues, carry-overs from packaging
materials, as part of internal food safety
systems.
• Improvements in monitoring and
verification for chemical hazards, such as
pesticides, dioxin and dioxin-like
compounds, heavy metals in raw materials
and ingredients, as well as for sanitisers and
chemicals used for plant or food service
maintenance, will also impact food safety
programs.
• Physical hazards, primarily foreign
substances or adulterants inadvertently
included in raw materials or ingredients, are
important areas of concern.
• Growers and raw material suppliers rely on
Good Agricultural Practice guidelines and
third party auditing and testing programs
that are commodity specific.
• Ingredient and raw material suppliers have
experienced an increased demand by food
processors to operate under the HACCP
model and to provide certificates of
analysis, for example, to ensure that raw
materials have been evaluated prior to
receipt at the plant. The most commonly
used programs in food processing facilities
include HACCP systems, Good
M a n u f a c t u r i n g P r a c t i c e s ( G M Ps ) ,
prerequisite programs and sanitation
standard operating procedures (SSOPs),
and in house or third party testing or
auditing.
At the retail end, food service restaurants,
supermarkets, grocery stores and catering
institutions are expected to adhere to FSSAI’s
Schedule IV under the Licensing Regulation that
provides guidance on food safety rules and
measures pertaining to worker hygiene,
sanitation and holding times and temperatures
to prevent contamination and foodborne
illnesses.
Lastly, one of the most important aspects of
food safety emphasised by food safety expert
Frank Yiannas is largely behavioral in nature. His
research suggests that achieving food safety
success often requires more than a thorough
understanding of the food science. It requires
better integration of the food sciences with the
behavioral sciences to create a behavior-based
food safety management system or food safety
culture – not just a food safety programme.
It will be pertinent to note that a wealth of
knowledge, infrastructure, and systems exists in
the field of food safety management. However,
as Goethe quotes — “Knowing is not enough;
we must apply. Willingness is not enough; we
must do.”

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