Risk Assessment

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An increasingly critical element of food safety and defense planning is assurance of data integrity—the ability to keep data unchanged as it is communicated or stored. Information that is used for decision-making or reporting cannot be compromised, altered, or manipulated by unauthorized users. Threat information is best shared through the establishment and voluntary participation of an Information Sharing and Analysis Center (ISAC). Food and agriculture is the only sector that lacks an ISAC. With security threats against the sector increasing and cyber threats against the global supply system also on the rise, it is imperative that a food and agriculture ISAC be formed.

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) recently highlighted various fellowship projects across Europe, providing insight into the recent and ongoing work of EFSA in the realm of food safety risk assessment for various chemical and microbiological hazards. 

The Joint FAO/WHO Expert Meeting in Microbial Risk Assessment (JERMA) convened in response to a Codex Alimentarius Committee request to develop microbiological risk assessment models for Listeria monocytogenes, and to provide recommendations to inform possible future revisions to Codex guidelines on hygienic controls for L. monocytogenes.

Researchers have built a new One Health-based risk model for possible human Campylobacter outbreaks that leverages data on weather patterns and the presence of Campylobacter on broiler farms.

Researchers have developed a new quantitative risk assessment model for foodborne illness outbreak investigations that takes into account epidemic curves, and demonstrated its efficacy with a case study on a 2019 Salmonella outbreak linked to precut melons. 

There are two big game-changers for improving food allergen safety: more effective food labeling, as well as risk assessments to understand the severity and frequency of allergic reactions. Identifying, prioritizing, and standardizing the list of major food allergens across global borders will help protect people everywhere living with allergies.

In this episode of Food Safety Matters, we interview Marc Cwikowski, Founder and Managing Director of All Food Consulting and Co-Founder at World of Auditing, about how food companies can develop risk-based audit strategies, the importance of aligning business priorities with audit priorities, ways that food companies can maximize the value of audits, how auditing can improve traceability and transparency, achieving preparedness for supply chain challenges, and the future of food safety auditing.

Cyber is the backbone for food and agriculture defense. Adversaries have the means, opportunity, and motivation to break the cyber backbone at will. If or when adversaries carry out an attack of large magnitude, the result could be a massive compromise of food safety, food defenses, and food security. To avoid that dark scenario, agriculture and food companies must properly prepare for a different kind of assault. The place to start is with their own cyber defense systems.

The UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) recently published a new modeling framework to quantify consumers’ risk of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) exposure from food products, using chicken and lettuce value chains as case studies.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, vendor certification has been top of mind for the food industry given the increased requirements and oversight of third-party audits and FDA regulations to better accommodate public health. This article will give a baseline understanding of the regulatory requirements between U.S. federal bodies (FDA, USDA) in comparison to widely known GFSI standards (BRC, SQF, FSSC 22200). Additionally, it will provide insight into key control areas for mitigating risk and adapting business in accordance with the growing emphasis on the importance of food safety culture.