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The Codex Alimentarius Committee on Food Hygiene (CCFH) has released an amended proposed draft guidance on the management of foodborne illness outbreaks associated with microbiological hazards.

In June 2021 the Food Standards Agency (FSA) dispersed a COVID-19 Recovery Plan providing guidance to local food safety authorities in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Between April–July 2022, FSA audit teams assessed local authorities’ performance against the requirements of the Recovery Plan through assurance checks.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) recently held a workshop in the Bahamas to develop a plan for improving the country’s food safety capacity, based on the findings of a 12-month project.

Prevention is a key focus in alleviating food fraud. In the food supply chain specifically, the lack of understanding and awareness regarding food fraud facilitators provides numerous opportunities for fraudsters to engage in criminal behavior. This article introduces the problem of food document fraud and the role documents play in facilitating food fraud events. Topics covered include crime prevention theory, food fraud prevention, food fraud facilitators, types and classifications of documents targeted in fraud, a food document fraud survey, and how food document fraud fits into a food fraud vulnerability assessment.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CIFA) recently provided insight into how whole genome sequencing (WGS) and international data-sharing helped trace a 2020 multinational food safety outbreak of Listeria monocytogenes to enoki mushrooms, enabling countries to rapidly recall the affected products. 

A recent China–Australia collaborative review examined similarities and differences in the food safety risk assessment systems of China, Australia and New Zealand, Canada, and the U.S., with the aim of identifying areas that could support improvements to the Chinese system.

The West appears to exhibit heightened awareness about food safety, with many countries claiming that they maintain high standards during the production, distribution, storage, and sale of food, and that they have mandatory legal requirements to protect people. However, there is less understanding of what makes human diets sustainable in a way that ensures global food security and sustainability.

As our agri-food systems transform in response to the changing global context, food safety must keep pace to safeguard consumer health and ensure international trade. By providing avenues to explore how the future may unfold, foresight enables strategic preparedness in food safety to address vulnerabilities and ensure resilience.

Advances in information technology, rapid advances in diagnostic sensitivity, and shifting regulatory requirements are changing the nature of food safety, while macroeconomic trends like globalization, competitive consolidation, and maturation of the industry are altering the structure of the markets. These trends are colliding with shorter-term disruptions like the economic recovery from COVID-19, inflation, and the war in Ukraine, making the near-term future difficult to see.

The UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) commissioned an independent review of the national food control systems of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the U.S., which has revealed significant differences in how each country regulates food safety.