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Food safety Management
Essential Approaches for Food Safety to Go Hand-In-Hand With Food Sustainability
Essential Approaches for Food Safety to Go Hand-In-Hand With Food Sustainability
Arundhathy Shabu
Dec 12, 2022
Food safety Management
Essential Approaches for Food Safety to Go Hand-In-Hand With Food Sustainability
Arundhathy Shabu
Dec 12, 2022
Essential Approaches for Food Safety to Go Hand-In-Hand With Food Sustainability
Food safety Management
Arundhathy Shabu
.
Dec 12, 2022
Did you know that the world population reached 8 billion on 15th November 2022, as estimated by the United Nations? While the phenomenon marks an important milestone in human advancement, we shouldn’t forget that a higher population means food security needs to be stronger than ever. Considering that the global volume of food wastage is about 1.6 billion tonnes, out of which edible portion accounts for 1.3 billion tonnes, we should begin to anticipate the forthcoming challenges for the global food sector to combat world hunger and operate by ensuring food sustainability.
Food sustainability came up as a point of discussion regarding how climate change adaptation measures must be integrated into the transformation of food systems at the 27th Conference of the Parties (COP 27) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Egypt. International Organization for Standardization (ISO) convened at COP 27 as they had recognized the necessity for the proposal of an immediate sustainable plan to accommodate the climate actions with an emphasis on food sustainability.
The enormous quantity of food waste produced is a major area that can affect food security, which is a salient point of food sustainability, and one can say food wastage has a direct link to affecting food sustainability.
Sustainable Management of Food and its Importance
The sustainable management of food refers to an organized outlook that serves to decrease the amount of wasted food and diminish the related consequences such as food insecurity. To better understand why sustainable food management is essential, let us look at some statistics. In the year 2018, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approximated about 63 millions tons of food waste. In contrast, the latest findings of the United Nations for the years 2021-22 revealed about 17 percent of total global food production is accumulated as food waste in which 11 percent ends up rotting in landfills instead of nourishing people. Primarily, food disposed of due to food safety incidents, inadequate storage as well as transport activities, and improper resource allocation are the significant causes for the tremendous quantities of food waste produced.
Elevating food sustainability is essential for agriculture and food systems as they are responsible for more than one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions, soil and water degradation, and deterioration of biodiversity. Sustainable management of food should be made a prime goal of every food enterprise to reduce food waste generation to ensure sufficient food is accessible for the growing population.
Food Safety and Food Security Go Hand-In-Hand By Ensuring Food Sustainability
The rising number of outbreaks and recalls in global food production systems demonstrate an indispensable need to monitor and bring down the food safety issues which influence sustainability goals. Large quantities of food produced are also being wasted at other levels across the entire food chain system, including farms, post-harvest activities, processing and transportation, and in restaurants.
The largest meat and poltry recall that occurred following a lengthy investigation into the slaughter practices resulted in the disposal of 143 million pounds of food, as recorded by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), is a learning lesson how important role Food Safety can play in Food Sustainability.
Though food sustainability is a multifaceted concept, cutting down food safety incidents along with other sources in the supply chain for reducing food waste remains a notable pillar in achieving a robust and sustainable future for food industries.
Food Safety Management Software
Boost your food business’s hygiene standards with Smart Food Safe’s tech-driven solutions—streamline 4C processes to yield optimal results, and ensure compliance effortlessly.
Food Safety Management Software
Boost your food business’s hygiene standards with Smart Food Safe’s tech-driven solutions—streamline 4C processes to yield optimal results, and ensure compliance effortlessly.
Ways To Resolve Challenges in Attaining Food Sustainability Through Waste Reduction
- Agri-Tech Crop Management: By leveraging data and technology into agricultural practices, such as robots, temperature and moisture sensors, aerial images, and GPS technologies, it is possible to improve crop management strategies, and overcome crop failures and related crop losses during the pre-harvest period.
- Good Agricultural Practices (GAP): Good Agricultural Practices (GAP), as defined by FAO, are a “collection of principles to apply for on-farm production and postproduction processes, resulting in safe and healthy food and non-food agriculture products, while taking into account economic, social and environmental sustainability.” While properly implemented, it can minimize the food safety risk from farming practices, and streamline recordkeeping and traceability challenges.
- Optimized Storage: Significant food wastage happens in the storage stage due to improper storage infrastructure, storage conditions such as temperature and humidity, and storage practices. With adequate storage infrastructure, monitoring conditions, and systematic stock rotation methods food waste can be significantly reduced.
- Efficient Distribution: Food loss occurs during distribution processes when food products are exposed to poor handling and harsh transportation conditions. Food wastage due to shipping delays, damages from spills and leakages, and sub-optimal conditions during distribution can be decreased by integrating digital systems that can provide real-time access and control over the logistics system.
- Smarter Food Safety: Food wasted over food safety incidents can only be dealt with by employing smarter food safety practices that can improve compliance and due diligence, while identifying the root causes and providing transparency with the power of real-time data. FDA has already set the stage for the industry to adopt technology-based food safety solutions with their “New Era of Smarter Food Safety” initiatives.
- Knowledge and Awareness: Knowledge is power, and awareness is the first step toward change. Most of the time, humans make mistakes due to either lack of knowledge or awareness. Food sustainability can be achieved with coordinated efforts of food waste management from field to fork. This requires gaining proper knowledge and spreading awareness among everyone that has anything to do with the food supply chain in reducing food wastage and achieving food sustainability through employee training programs.
Latest trends show a pattern in which tech-enabled assistance in food production whilst safeguarding the sustainability agenda is a promising solution for the future.
Optimizing Food Sustainability Using Digitized Food Safety Solutions
The idea of decreasing resource and environmental footprints as part of sustainable development goals lines up with the need to eliminate food losses and waste. Therefore, source reduction for food wastage is an area that food businesses and retailers need to concentrate on. This is where upgrading the conventional system to a contemporary model that uses technologies such as machine learning, sensors, IoT, big data analytics, blockchain, and artificial intelligence (AI) comes into the limelight.
As Frank Yiannas, Deputy Commissioner for Food Policy and Response remarked about the FDA’s new initiative “New Era of Smarter Food Safety”, a new approach to food safety, one that recognizes and builds on the progress made in the past but also incorporates the use of new technologies that are being used in society and business sectors all around us is essential. This encompasses developing a sustainable food culture in the most convenient yet methodical way through digital solutions for food safety.
SmartFoodSafe is a management software that can help transform enterprises’ quality and food safety systems with smart software solutions. Our affordable software modules improve compliance gaps, enhance process efficiency, bring digital transparency and provide real-time traceability. With improved food safety compliance, businesses reduce their food safety recall or wastage risks which are principal to optimizing food sustainability.
FAQ
Sustainable waste management is crucial for several reasons: it minimizes environmental pollution, conserves natural resources, reduces greenhouse gas emissions, protects public health, promotes recycling and reuse, and supports the transition to a circular economy. It ensures a cleaner, healthier, and more sustainable future for generations to come.
An example of sustainability in food is promoting and consuming locally sourced, seasonal produce to reduce carbon emissions from transportation, support local farmers, and preserve biodiversity. Additionally, adopting sustainable farming practices such as organic farming, water conservation, and reducing food waste contribute to a more sustainable food system
Food safety and food security are interconnected. While food security focuses on ensuring access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food for all, food safety ensures that the available food is free from contaminants and poses no risk to consumer health. Both are essential aspects of a sustainable and healthy food system, working together to safeguard the well-being and welfare of individuals and communities.
Did you know that the world population reached 8 billion on 15th November 2022, as estimated by the United Nations? While the phenomenon marks an important milestone in human advancement, we shouldn’t forget that a higher population means food security needs to be stronger than ever. Considering that the global volume of food wastage is about 1.6 billion tonnes, out of which edible portion accounts for 1.3 billion tonnes, we should begin to anticipate the forthcoming challenges for the global food sector to combat world hunger and operate by ensuring food sustainability.
Food sustainability came up as a point of discussion regarding how climate change adaptation measures must be integrated into the transformation of food systems at the 27th Conference of the Parties (COP 27) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Egypt. International Organization for Standardization (ISO) convened at COP 27 as they had recognized the necessity for the proposal of an immediate sustainable plan to accommodate the climate actions with an emphasis on food sustainability.
The enormous quantity of food waste produced is a major area that can affect food security, which is a salient point of food sustainability, and one can say food wastage has a direct link to affecting food sustainability.
Sustainable Management of Food and its Importance
The sustainable management of food refers to an organized outlook that serves to decrease the amount of wasted food and diminish the related consequences such as food insecurity. To better understand why sustainable food management is essential, let us look at some statistics. In the year 2018, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approximated about 63 millions tons of food waste. In contrast, the latest findings of the United Nations for the years 2021-22 revealed about 17 percent of total global food production is accumulated as food waste in which 11 percent ends up rotting in landfills instead of nourishing people. Primarily, food disposed of due to food safety incidents, inadequate storage as well as transport activities, and improper resource allocation are the significant causes for the tremendous quantities of food waste produced.
Elevating food sustainability is essential for agriculture and food systems as they are responsible for more than one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions, soil and water degradation, and deterioration of biodiversity. Sustainable management of food should be made a prime goal of every food enterprise to reduce food waste generation to ensure sufficient food is accessible for the growing population.
Food Safety and Food Security Go Hand-In-Hand By Ensuring Food Sustainability
The rising number of outbreaks and recalls in global food production systems demonstrate an indispensable need to monitor and bring down the food safety issues which influence sustainability goals. Large quantities of food produced are also being wasted at other levels across the entire food chain system, including farms, post-harvest activities, processing and transportation, and in restaurants.
The largest meat and poltry recall that occurred following a lengthy investigation into the slaughter practices resulted in the disposal of 143 million pounds of food, as recorded by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), is a learning lesson how important role Food Safety can play in Food Sustainability.
Though food sustainability is a multifaceted concept, cutting down food safety incidents along with other sources in the supply chain for reducing food waste remains a notable pillar in achieving a robust and sustainable future for food industries.
Food Safety Management Software
Boost your food business’s hygiene standards with Smart Food Safe’s tech-driven solutions—streamline 4C processes to yield optimal results, and ensure compliance effortlessly.
Ways To Resolve Challenges in Attaining Food Sustainability Through Waste Reduction
- Agri-Tech Crop Management: By leveraging data and technology into agricultural practices, such as robots, temperature and moisture sensors, aerial images, and GPS technologies, it is possible to improve crop management strategies, and overcome crop failures and related crop losses during the pre-harvest period.
- Good Agricultural Practices (GAP): Good Agricultural Practices (GAP), as defined by FAO, are a “collection of principles to apply for on-farm production and postproduction processes, resulting in safe and healthy food and non-food agriculture products, while taking into account economic, social and environmental sustainability.” While properly implemented, it can minimize the food safety risk from farming practices, and streamline recordkeeping and traceability challenges.
- Optimized Storage: Significant food wastage happens in the storage stage due to improper storage infrastructure, storage conditions such as temperature and humidity, and storage practices. With adequate storage infrastructure, monitoring conditions, and systematic stock rotation methods food waste can be significantly reduced.
- Efficient Distribution: Food loss occurs during distribution processes when food products are exposed to poor handling and harsh transportation conditions. Food wastage due to shipping delays, damages from spills and leakages, and sub-optimal conditions during distribution can be decreased by integrating digital systems that can provide real-time access and control over the logistics system.
- Smarter Food Safety: Food wasted over food safety incidents can only be dealt with by employing smarter food safety practices that can improve compliance and due diligence, while identifying the root causes and providing transparency with the power of real-time data. FDA has already set the stage for the industry to adopt technology-based food safety solutions with their “New Era of Smarter Food Safety” initiatives.
- Knowledge and Awareness: Knowledge is power, and awareness is the first step toward change. Most of the time, humans make mistakes due to either lack of knowledge or awareness. Food sustainability can be achieved with coordinated efforts of food waste management from field to fork. This requires gaining proper knowledge and spreading awareness among everyone that has anything to do with the food supply chain in reducing food wastage and achieving food sustainability through employee training programs.
Latest trends show a pattern in which tech-enabled assistance in food production whilst safeguarding the sustainability agenda is a promising solution for the future.
Optimizing Food Sustainability Using Digitized Food Safety Solutions
The idea of decreasing resource and environmental footprints as part of sustainable development goals lines up with the need to eliminate food losses and waste. Therefore, source reduction for food wastage is an area that food businesses and retailers need to concentrate on. This is where upgrading the conventional system to a contemporary model that uses technologies such as machine learning, sensors, IoT, big data analytics, blockchain, and artificial intelligence (AI) comes into the limelight.
As Frank Yiannas, Deputy Commissioner for Food Policy and Response remarked about the FDA’s new initiative “New Era of Smarter Food Safety”, a new approach to food safety, one that recognizes and builds on the progress made in the past but also incorporates the use of new technologies that are being used in society and business sectors all around us is essential. This encompasses developing a sustainable food culture in the most convenient yet methodical way through digital solutions for food safety.
SmartFoodSafe is a management software that can help transform enterprises’ quality and food safety systems with smart software solutions. Our affordable software modules improve compliance gaps, enhance process efficiency, bring digital transparency and provide real-time traceability. With improved food safety compliance, businesses reduce their food safety recall or wastage risks which are principal to optimizing food sustainability.
FAQ
Sustainable waste management is crucial for several reasons: it minimizes environmental pollution, conserves natural resources, reduces greenhouse gas emissions, protects public health, promotes recycling and reuse, and supports the transition to a circular economy. It ensures a cleaner, healthier, and more sustainable future for generations to come.
An example of sustainability in food is promoting and consuming locally sourced, seasonal produce to reduce carbon emissions from transportation, support local farmers, and preserve biodiversity. Additionally, adopting sustainable farming practices such as organic farming, water conservation, and reducing food waste contribute to a more sustainable food system
Food safety and food security are interconnected. While food security focuses on ensuring access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food for all, food safety ensures that the available food is free from contaminants and poses no risk to consumer health. Both are essential aspects of a sustainable and healthy food system, working together to safeguard the well-being and welfare of individuals and communities.