Precision Food Safety: a Paradigm Shift in Detection and Control of Foodborne Pathogens

Exploring the Interplay of Food Security, Safety, and Psychological Wellness in the COVID-19 Era: Managing Strategies for Resilience and Adaptation

The global population surge presents a dual challenge and opportunity in the realms of food consumption, safety, and mental well-being. This necessitates a projected 70% increase in food production to meet growing demands. Amid this backdrop, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic exacerbates these issues, underscoring the need for a deeper understanding of the intricate interplay between food consumption patterns and mental health dynamics during this crisis. Mitigating the spread of COVID-19 hinges upon rigorous adherence to personal hygiene practices and heightened disease awareness. Furthermore, maintaining stringent food quality and safety standards across both public and private sectors is imperative for safeguarding public health and containing viral transmission. Drawing upon existing research, this study delves into the pandemic's impact on mental health, food consumption habits, and food safety protocols. Through a comprehensive analysis, it aims to elucidate the nuanced relationship among food, food safety, and mental well-being amid the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighting synergistic effects and dynamics that underpin holistic human welfare. Our study offers a novel approach by integrating psychological wellness with food security and safety. In conceiving this review, we aimed to comprehensively explore the intricate interplay among food security, safety, and psychological wellness amid the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our review is structured to encompass a thorough examination of existing research, synthesizing insights into the multifaceted relationships among food consumption patterns, mental health dynamics, and food safety protocols during the crisis. Our findings provide valuable insights and practical recommendations for enhancing food security and psychological well-being, thus supporting both academic research and real-world applications in crisis management and policy development.

Processing environment monitoring in low moisture food production facilities: Are we looking for the right microorganisms?

Processing environment monitoring is gaining increasing importance in the context of food safety management plans/HACCP programs, since past outbreaks have shown the relevance of the environment as contamination pathway, therefore requiring to ensure the safety of products. However, there are still many open questions and a lack of clarity on how to set up a meaningful program, which would provide early warnings of potential product contamination. Therefore, the current paper aims to summarize and evaluate existing scientific information on outbreaks, relevant pathogens in low moisture foods, and knowledge on indicators, including their contribution to a "clean" environment capable of limiting the spread of pathogens in dry production environments. This paper also outlines the essential elements of a processing environment monitoring program thereby supporting the design and implementation of better programs focusing on the relevant microorganisms. This guidance document is intended to help industry and regulators focus and set up targeted processing environment monitoring programs depending on their purpose, and therefore provide the essential elements needed to improve food safety.

Big Data Impacting Dynamic Food Safety Risk Management in the Food Chain

Foodborne pathogens are a major contributor to foodborne illness worldwide. The adaptation of a more quantitative risk-based approach, with metrics such as Food safety Objectives (FSO) and Performance Objectives (PO) necessitates quantitative inputs from all stages of the food value chain. The potential exists for utilization of big data, generated through digital transformational technologies, as inputs to a dynamic risk management concept for food safety microbiology. The industrial revolution in Internet of Things (IoT) will leverage data inputs from precision agriculture, connected factories/logistics, precision healthcare, and precision food safety, to improve the dynamism of microbial risk management. Furthermore, interconnectivity of public health databases, social media, and e-commerce tools as well as technologies such as blockchain will enhance traceability for retrospective and real-time management of foodborne cases. Despite the enormous potential of data volume and velocity, some challenges remain, including data ownership, interoperability, and accessibility. This paper gives insight to the prospective use of big data for dynamic risk management from a microbiological safety perspective in the context of the International Commission on Microbiological Specifications for Foods (ICMSF) conceptual equation, and describes examples of how a dynamic risk management system (DRMS) could be used in real-time to identify hazards and control Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli risks related to leafy greens.

Recent advances in the application of metabolomics for food safety control and food quality analyses

As one of the omics fields, metabolomics has unique advantages in facilitating the understanding of physiological and pathological activities in biology, physiology, pathology, and food science. In this review, based on developments in analytical chemistry tools, cheminformatics, and bioinformatics methods, we highlight the current applications of metabolomics in food safety, food authenticity and quality, and food traceability. Additionally, the combined use of metabolomics with other omics techniques for "foodomics" is comprehensively described. Finally, the latest developments and advances, practical challenges and limitations, and requirements related to the application of metabolomics are critically discussed, providing new insight into the application of metabolomics in food analysis.