Speaking with JEMRA expert Leon Gorris about safely using and reusing water

On World Water Day, we turned to an expert to better understand the scientific guidance on safely using and reusing this precious resource in food production and processing. Leon Gorris has taken part in Joint FAO/WHO Expert Meetings on Microbiological Risk Assessment, also known as JEMRA, dedicated to several different topics. Here is what he had to say.

• Why is JEMRA’s work on the use and reuse of water for food production and processing important?

To produce and process food that is safe for consumers, it is essential to use clean water from production to consumption. But what constitutes clean water in different parts of the world? Many countries are experiencing challenges in accessing sufficient amounts of fresh, potable water. In others, climate change, population growth and other global trends may impact on water availability. Statistics tell us that only a few percent of the water on our planet is fresh water and that the global community uses approximately 70% for agriculture, 23% for industry and 7% for municipal purposes. Thus, it is important for us to better understand water use in various food sectors, potential contamination of typically used water sources as well as consumer risks so that we can better match the water available with an intended use or reuse that does not compromise food safety for consumers. That may help enormously in alleviating current and future challenges to the availability of clean water for food production and processing.

• The JEMRA expert reports advocate the use of fit-for-purpose water. What does that mean and what food sectors are covered?

JEMRA has investigated the “consumer safe” matching of available water with different water use and reuse purposes. The basis for matching a water source with a purpose is understanding the risk to consumers through the food ultimately consumed. When a water source can be (re)used for a specific purpose without compromising consumer safety, the experts consider that a fit-for-purpose water (re)use scenario. But there is a wide variety of water sources and water (re-)use purposes when we consider all different foods and sectors as they operate around the world. The JEMRA experts have focused on some key sectors and have drawn out principles how to establish fit-for-purpose applications for the fruits & vegetables sector, the fish & fisheries products sector as well as for processing in general (JEMRA33). Subsequently, they looked in more detail to into specific fit-for-purpose water (re)use scenarios for fruits & vegetables (JEMRA37), fish & fisheries products (JEMRA41) and dairy products (JEMRA40).

• Evaluating whether food poses a risk to consumers is fundamental to the JEMRA work. How was consumer risk assessed for water use and reuse?

Various types of hazards are potentially introduced via water use and reuse in the production and processing of foods. These could be chemical hazards, physical hazards and microbiological hazards. The JEMRA expert groups focus on the microbiological hazards, meaning microorganisms or their toxins, and assessed potential impacts to consumer health when such hazards would be present in foods when consumed. We looked at various sectors, water (re)use scenarios and the different foods consumed to identify typical food safety risks. Where necessary, we suggested how risks might be reduced to acceptable levels through adequate treatments or other interventions. However, “consumer safe” water (re)use depends on many different factors. We have to stress that every fit-for-purpose application will have to be assessed for consumer risk taking into account many details that our JEMRA reports would not be able to cover.

• You have participated in a number of JEMRA meetings – what motivates you?

In my career I have been working as a food safety scientist for government, industry and academia. In all settings, I could help develop the scientific basis for decisions how best to management food safety or on new approaches to assessing food safety risks. First-hand, I experienced how valuable a good science-base is for informed decision-making and for evolving risk assessment approaches. At the global scale, JEMRA provides the scientific basis for information of governments and stakeholder groups (industry, consumers, academia, etc.). I have been able to work in several JEMRA expert groups for the last 20 years and have participated in, for instance, Codex Alimentarius for even longer. I have seen that the science that JEMRA brings together offers Codex a strong basis for establishing consensus on global food safety standards and guidelines. These ultimately inform many regional and local competent authorities as well as others. To see such practical value of our JEMRA work coming out at global to local scale really is motivating to me and, I assume, many others contributing to JEMRA activities.

• Who are the JEMRA reports informing and what value will they have?

The JEMRA reports have been established upon request of Codex Alimentarius, more specifically, the Codex Committee on Food Hygiene. This committee is developing guidelines for safe water use and reuse and has identified the sectors for which they want to establish such guidelines with priority in detail. However, the JEMRA reports are all available in the public domain and can be used as a resource for understanding “consumer safe” water (re)use by many different stakeholders, such as governments, industry, consumers, academia, at global to local level.

The value they draw from these reports may be that they have a starting point for their own decision-making concerning, respectively, food safety standards and guidelines on water (re)use, identifying their very specific fit-for-purpose applications, what water use and reuse means for consumers, and how risk assessment and management of safe water they may be able to match their situation to finding fit-for-purpose.

Download the JEMRA reports on water use and reuse in dairy, fish and fishery products, food production and processing and fresh fruit and vegetable production

This year World Water Day is about accelerating change to solve the water and sanitation crisis. The UN is holding a dedicated conference in New York where national governments and stakeholders are gathering to accelerate progress on SDG 6.

Read more about the 22 March observance

Photo: © Leon Gorris