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.

Food safety sampling and testing strategies must seek ways to adapt food safety plans that reflect the reality of contamination to improve hazard detection and ultimately help ensure that food is safe for consumers. One solution is to maximize the power of sampling plans to detect target hazards present at explicitly defined risk levels—prevalence, level, and/or distribution. This would allow food safety professionals to better manage risk in their specific system.

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.

The European Food Safety Authority’s (EFSA’s) recently updated risk assessment of sulfur dioxide and sulfites concludes that dietary intakes of sulfites may be a food safety concern, but there remain problematic gaps in toxicity data.

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) will be reevaluating the health risks posed by phthalates and replacement plasticizers used in food contact materials, and has recently published its scientific protocol for the hazard assessment of the substances.

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. 

A panel of experts have advised against assuming that all per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are equally toxic and potent, also providing other opinions on PFAS grouping and risk assessment.

By 2030, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and its EU partners aim to implement more comprehensive, harmonized chemical exposure assessments to enhance food and feed risk assessments. 

The National Association of County and City Health Officials recently published a study, grounded in the Voluntary National Retail Food Regulatory Program Standards, that analyzed the factors affecting the implementation of food safety risk factor intervention strategies among local retail food regulatory programs.

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.