Food safety ‘at risk from global changes’

Kiwi food producers must remain vigilant about protecting their food safety reputation as food supply and security reaches global crisis levels, says a Lincoln University scientist.

Food microbiology senior lecturer Dr Malik Hussain said food safety and security was one of the major changes humanity faced.

"The planet is, in a sense, creaking and groaning under the pressure. The seriousness of the issue is exacerbated all the more by the truly global nature of the problem. Even a single event such as a drought or famine has the capacity to cause massive disruption to the world food supply."

Hussain will present his findings on the status of food security to 200 speakers from 50 countries at the International Journal of Food Science and Technology conference at Lincoln University next week.

He said farmers only had to recall Fonterra’s contamination incident last year to appreciate the repercussions when food safety was put at risk. The contamination was found to be non-existent but still resulted in food being removed from shelves, and such scares could be expected to increase.

Food security was complex and affected by many factors, such as global warming, increasing populations, changes to water supplies, and interruptions to sustainable agriculture production.

Hussain said "nasty" micro-organisms in food could kill people. Safe, healthy food had to be delivered to markets – especially as New Zealand relied on an agriculture-based economy.

He said climate change could alter the pathogens ending up in food, so food producers would have to keep pace with science.

A listeria outbreak in Hawke’s Bay from ready-to-eat meat products killed three people in 2012, and an outbreak the year before in the United States was linked to melons – yet 20 years ago such outbreaks were rare. Last year a gastro bug outbreak in Christchurch was linked to fresh vegetables.

"The point I want to make is: we produce enough food for our population, but it does not mean our food supply is secure, because we may confront an unexplained [problem] and this could put food supply in a different position."