With increasing pressures from globalization,
population growth, and a rise in temperatures worldwide, the security of food and animal feed supply
chains is consistently under pressure. Whilst these challenges continue to persist and grow in severity,
it is vital that our efforts to tackle them are focused on elements that can be controlled.
Food safety testing forms a major checkpoint in protecting food supply chain
security, providing a means to certify produce as safe for consumption, preventing foodborne illnesses, and
in doing so, protecting human health.
Global food production needs to increase by up to 50% by 2050 if we are to feed our
growing population.
Controlling contamination forms a key part of the Food and Agriculture
Organization’s (FAO) Sustainable Development Goal 2 to end hunger, achieve food security and improved
nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture by 2030.
With consumers paying closer attention to the foods they eat and where they come
from, there is an opportunity for manufacturers to elevate their brand integrity by demonstrating they
have a high performing safety management system in place.
“Given expected changes in temperatures, precipitation and
pests associated with climate change, the global community is called upon to increase investment in
research, development and demonstration of technologies to improve the sustainability of food systems
everywhere.”United
Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs
Explore workflows and three key areas of analytical
testing that could have the biggest impact on ensuring both food and animal feed is safe for
consumption:
Pesticide residues
Mycotoxins & biotoxins
Food contact materials
End-to-end analytical workflows
Pesticide
residues
Through in-depth chemical and microbiological
analysis, pesticide residue testing identifies residues in food and feed products that can be introduced
pre-and post harvest, including during manufacturing.
Despite documented health risks, business concerns, and regulatory oversight,
pesticides continue to be used globally, with many countries still lacking appropriate systems for
monitoring residues in food and feed items.
Food manufacturers and government entities are increasing their vigilance when it
comes to ensuring imported food products comply with maximum residue levels.
Calls to reduce the use of pesticides is at odds with the growing need for food
production due to the rising global population. Therefore, pesticide usage is likely to continue for the
foreseeable future, while regulations are likely to become stricter to reduce health risks.
Tackling the residual testing challenges of
pesticides in the global food supply chain
Explore the situation in more detail, hearing
directly from leaders in this field:
Produced by living organisms such as fungi and plants, mycotoxins and
biotoxins are recognized as two classes of natural toxins frequently found in food and animal feed that pose
a significant threat to human and animal health.
Mycotoxins are of particular concern as they can be easily inhaled, ingested, or
absorbed through the skin. Consumption of contaminated products can lead to acute poisoning and long-term
effects such as cancer in humans and poor reproductive performance and suboptimal milk production in
livestock.
With a rise in global temperatures, mycotoxin-producing fungi and
phytotoxin-producing plants could begin to thrive in traditionally more cool and temperate climates, putting
more countries at risk of contamination and increasing the risk of new emerging strains developing.
It is vital that appropriate testing regimens are in place in any food or feed
supplychain.
With the introduction of industry sustainability targets, manufactures
are incorporating more recycled ingredients into their plastic, paper, glass, or aluminum packaging than
ever. However, known hazardous chemicals and unknown, potentially hazardous chemicals can migrate from
these food contact materials and can accumulate to reach concentrations of toxicological concern.
Utilizing well established and reliable techniques, such as accelerated solvent
extraction (ASE), to analyze the prevalence of volatile, non-volatile, semi-volatile compounds, and
elemental impurities must be incorporated by regulatory bodies and food suppliers alike to ensure the
composition of food is not changed.
The emphasis is placed on food and beverage manufacturers to not only ensure their
products are safe for consumption to protect human health, but to also ensure supply is maintained free
from product recalls that could lead to disruptions and unexpected costs.
Navigating the forensics of food contact materials
to ensure packaging integrity and safety assurance
Discover expert advice, regulatory insights,
workflows for targeted and untargeted analysis, and more:
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), global food production
needs to increase by over:
50%
by 2050 to feed our growing population.
This means the demand for
packaging materials will likely increase.
End-to-end
analytical workflows
To help analytical scientists and food manufacturers meet evolving food and
feed testing challenges, regulatory demands, and minimize the risk of recalls, Thermo Fisher Scientific has
developed complete end-to-end workflows accompanied by a wide selection of educational resources.
Discover free educational resources by Thermo Fisher
Scientific
Food and beverage resource guide for
commercial food testing laboratories
Designed to deliver results with speed and accuracy, Thermo Fisher
Scientific’s easy-to-deploy, end-to-end workflows also aim to offer the level of flexibility required by food
and feed testing laboratories, whilst leveraging a suite of cloud-based, user-friendly software tools.
Certain images and/or photos on this page are the copyrighted
property of 123RF.com, its contributors or its licensed partners and are being used with permission under the
relevant license. These images and/or photos may not be copied or downloaded without permission from
123RF.com. Other images courtesy of Thermo Fisher Scientific®.
